666. If ever there was a number known far and wide, it’s that number. Whether you’re a Christian who knows something about their bible, or a horror movie buff who knows something about dealing with demons, you know that number is bad news. It surfaces, this morning, as I read in Revelation at the end of a chapter full of bad news.

A dragon, the same serpent who infiltrated an ancient garden, is unleashed — his deception in the garden only a small foreshadowing of the deception and havoc he would continue to wreak through the ages upon the whole earth (Rev. 12:9). And the dragon begets a beast from the sea (Rev.13:1), and the beast leads people to worship the dragon (13:4). The dragon gives the beast power, a throne, and great authority (13:2). The beast, in turn, blasphemes God and wages war against God’s people (13:6-7). And the economy of these last days will be founded upon a mark which must be borne by “everyone — small and great, rich and poor, free and slave” — which signifies their allegiance to the dragon and his beast, “so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of its name” (13:17). And what’s the number of its name?

This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.

(Revelation 13:18 CSB)

Do the math, says the Spirit. Me=6. Myself=6. I=6. Me, myself, and I = 666. It is the number of a person. The number of a man (ESV). It is man’s number (NIV). It’s a human number (MSG). It’s our number.

The word translated here is anthropos, from which we get out word anthropology, the study of all things human, the science of human beings. Peer into the face of the beast and see yourself. Consider what gives it its fundamental power and understand it’s you. When me, myself, and I rule, then the mark of the beast has been taken. When our anthropology concludes, “In the beginning, man . . . ” rather than “In the beginning, God . . . ” then be forewarned, it’s only a matter of time. When prevailing wisdom says that we are created in our psyche’s image rather than in God’s image, know that things are on their way to wrapping up.

What a sobering warning in this western age of expressive individualism, when being the authentic you trumps everything else. A sobering warning not just for those “in the world” but for the western church, as well, who may have had her eye on the wrong ball when it came to not being “of the world.” We stayed away from the occult, but could we have been deceived by the serpent’s subtle suggestions to fix our eyes on ourselves — on me, myself, and I?

Don’t know that I’ve ever really paused to noodle on this verse before. But tell me that in our age when the person is king — when my experience is authoritative simply because it is my experience — we aren’t in danger of ceding authority to the deception of the serpent and his beast, because it’s the beast within.

The risk is real, I think. The mitigation? It’s even real-er.

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

(Galatian 2:20 CSB)

I have been crucified. I no longer live. There’s goes that 6.

Christ lives in me. He gave Himself for me. There’s goes that 6.

I live not for myself nor according to myself, but by faith in the Son of God. There’s goes that 6.

Do the math. Mark be gone!

Only by God’s grace. Only for God’s glory.