What does 666 really mean?

Answer 1

Just as the number '7' represents 'God' and 'holiness', and the number '6' represents mankind and the world and unholiness, so '666' stresses that this man is definitely Satanic and represents everything God is not. It has nothing to do with numerical values of the letters making up a person's name totalling 666. It does not refer to Adolph Hitler, the Pope, Nero Caesar, Caligula, or to any particular past individual in the past.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. On page 366 of "The popular Encylopedia of Bible Prophecy" in the article "666" Tim Lahaye says:-

"[All] should heed a precaution that the early church father Irenaeus offered long ago: 'We should not speculate about the identity of the person represented by the number 666 until that person arrives on the scene.' [It's] primary use will be to help believers of the future recognize the false Christ when he becomes a public figure. If one takes the pretribulational and futurist view of Revelation in general, the Antichrist's identification is obviously a matter of future discernment. Second Thessalonians 2:3-8 clearly states that the Antichrist's identity will not be revealed until after the removal of the Restrainer, presumably at the rapture. ...In the meantime, any human curiosity will have to remain unsatisfied until the time of fulfillment arrives. Thus, church-age believers are told to keep watching (Matthew 24:42) for Jesus to come, not for the Antichrist's arrival."

2 Thessalonians 2:3-8

(v.3) Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,(v.4) who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

(v.5) Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?(v.6) And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. (v.7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He [ie the Holy Spirit] who now restrains will do so until He [ie the Holy Spirit] is taken out of the way.(v.8) And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

Matthew 24:42

(v.42) Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.