Book of Revelation

Canon or Not?

Did you know the Book of Revelation was not originally part of the Bible? It was one of the last books to be accepted as an official part of the biblical canon, and it was a gradual process that included ups and downs. To this day, some Eastern Orthodox Christians do not use Revelation in their public worship.

Martin Luther included Revelation in his first New Testament translation, but he initially did not accept the book as having the same authority as the gospels. While some Christians believe John the Apostle wrote the Book of Revelation, this tradition is heavily disputed.

Revelation was likely written after John the Apostle died, its content is very different from the four gospels, and Revelation’s author never claimed to be an apostle. Additionally, the Book of Revelation contains a noticeably different writing style. It is full of grammatical mistakes and possibly the worst grammar in the entire New Testament (scholars have varying theories about why this is).

Earlier Christians such as Dionysius of Alexandria, born sometime in the late 2nd or early 3rd century, acknowledged that Christians were divided on Revelation’s authority and authenticity. Quoted by the Christian historian Eusebius in Church History Book VII chapter 25, Dionysius stated:

Some before us have set aside and rejected the book altogether, criticising it chapter by chapter, and pronouncing it without sense or argument, and maintaining that the title is fraudulent. For they say that it is not the work of John, nor is it a revelation, because it is covered thickly and densely by a veil of obscurity. And they affirm that none of the apostles, and none of the saints, nor any one in the Church is its author, but that Cerinthus, who founded the sect which was called after him the Cerinthian, desiring reputable authority for his fiction, prefixed the name. For the doctrine which he taught was this: that the kingdom of Christ will be an earthly one.

Dionysius also commented on the grammatical mistakes (which he refers to as solecisms) and the strange writing style found in Revelation which is different from the Gospel of John:

Moreover, it can also be shown that the diction of the Gospel and Epistle differs from that of the Apocalypse. For they were written not only without error as regards the Greek language, but also with elegance in their expression, in their reasonings, and in their entire structure. They are far indeed from betraying any barbarism or solecism, or any vulgarism whatever... I do not deny that the other writer saw a revelation and received knowledge and prophecy. I perceive, however, that his dialect and language are not accurate Greek, but that he uses barbarous idioms, and, in some places, solecisms.

Here, Dionysius is commenting on how the rest of the New Testament is written with proper grammar, and how those books do not contain any "barbarism" or vulgarity.

But in Revelation, Dionysius found both bad grammar and shocking imagery, to the point that he called it barbaric (though to be fair, his usage of that term likely referred to the language being foreign, crude, or unrefined—not necessarily evil or savage, since those are more modern associations).

The imagery in books like Daniel and Revelation may seem strange, mystifying, and otherworldly to us today, but it was actually common during its time. Even though later Christians had trouble understanding it, the book's original intended audience would have recognized it. They were familiar with the genre of apocalypticism, just as we are familiar with genres like romance and fantasy.

Vengeance

Dionysius had good reason to call parts of Revelation barbaric, and so do we—both in the old and modern sense of the word. While many Christians and Adventists see Revelation as a book of hope and healing, we must face the fact that much of its imagery is horrific.

Some of the most well-known teachings of Jesus come from the Sermon on the Mount. They include the value of being meek and merciful (Matthew 5:5-8), peacemakers (verse 9), turning the other cheek (verses 38-41), and loving your enemies (verses 43-46).

However, we find a shocking contrast in Revelation 18:4-7. God’s followers are told to get revenge against their oppressors, treating them twice as bad:

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you do not take part in her sins and so that you do not share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her as she herself has rendered, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double dose for her in the cup she mixed..."

Compared to the rest of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation presents a wildly different picture of Jesus as a violent, vengeful warrior. Revelation is very heavy on graphic imagery and appears to fantasize about the punishment and brutal death of the enemies of the Christians.

Revelation 2 contains the message to the church in Thyatira and while it praises the church for their "love, faith, service, and endurance," it scolds them for tolerating a woman the author calls "Jezebel." According to the author, she promoted "sexual immorality" and eating "food sacrificed to idols." Referring to this woman, verses 22-23 contain a shocking statement attributed to Jesus himself:

Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings, and I will strike her children dead.

It's unclear whether the woman that Jesus throws onto the bed is having consensual sex or if she is being raped. Either way, Revelation quotes Jesus saying "I will strike her children dead." Does that sound like the Jesus of the gospels who said "Let the little children come to me?"

As the Book of Revelation progresses, the number of people affected by violence increases. At first, one fourth of the Earth is killed by the sword, famine, pestilence, and wild animals (Revelation 6:8). Then one third of the Earth is burned up and mutilated (Revelation 8:7-12).

Revelation 9:1-10 describes how locusts, with tails and stingers like scorpions, come out of a bottomless pit and torture everyone who does not have the seal of God. They are tortured non-stop for five months, and the torture is so bad that they want to die, but they're intentionally kept alive to keep experiencing pain.

In Revelation 14:19-20, a gruesome picture is painted of blood flowing for miles from "the great winepress of the wrath of God." There is so much blood that it floods the land and rises "as high as a horse's bridle."

Later in Revelation 19:13-18, Jesus himself unleashes incredible violence on virtually everyone—both the powerful and powerless, both "free and slave," with birds eating their skin and the skin of their horses:

He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a scepter of iron; he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly in midheaven, "Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and their riders—flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great."

While the Gospel of John emphasizes that "God is love," the Book of Revelation never describes God as loving everyone. There are only three brief mentions of Jesus’ love in Revelation 1:5 and 3:9, 18, and 19, and that love is specifically for the followers of Jesus—his love is not for everyone.

The Book of Revelation is largely symbolic and not interpreted as fully literal by most readers, but the author’s view of God is reflected in the brutal symbols and violent descriptions used throughout the book. Some aspects of Revelation are nonviolent, but New Testament scholar Pieter G. R. De Villiers explains the problematic nature of the book's overall violent language and imagery:

It is language that draws its listeners into an atmosphere of bitter and agonistic opposition against others and that categorizes people in terms of either good or evil with dangerous consequences... It is language that breeds exclusivity, that turns opponents into enemies with whom one cannot negotiate or dialogue - which is one reason why religion can become dangerous and violent.

Revelation 19:1-3 celebrates bitter polarization and vengeance. The people saved by God celebrate the killing of everyone else, shouting "Hallelujah! ...he has avenged on her the blood of his servants." This passage, is describing literal schadenfreude—finding pleasure in the pain or suffering of others.

As we've covered before, the Bible is not univocal. While incredibly violent imagery can be found throughout the Old Testament, it also has passages that put Revelation's bloodthirst to shame. For example, Ezekiel 18:32 and 33:11 state that God takes "no pleasure" in the death of anyone, not even the wicked. And as we covered earlier, Jesus never taught revenge—he said to turn the other cheek and love our enemies. Revelation's glorification of violent revenge goes against the glimpses of grace in the Bible.

Materialism

According to the gospels, Jesus consistently opposed materialism. In Mark 10:21, he told a rich man to give all his wealth to the poor; in Matthew 6:25-34, he said everyone should rely on God instead of worrying about material needs like clothing. Jesus gave strong warnings, specifically to rich people, in Luke 6:24-25.

The rest of the New Testament also contains instructions about rejecting "pride in riches," and even says Christians should dress modestly to avoid materialism and overt displays of wealth.

• ‍1 John 2:15-17 says "pride in riches comes not from the Father but from the world"
• ‍1 Peter 3:1-4 instructs women to not braid their hair or wear gold ornaments and fine clothing
• 1 Timothy 2:9 similarly tells women to avoid braided hair, gold, pearls, and expensive clothes

Some Christians mistakenly point to Mark 10:28-30 and claim that Jesus did promise wealth in the afterlife. In this passage, Jesus tells his disciples that the people who abandon their families and homes for his sake, and the sake of the gospel, will receive one hundred times what they abandoned:

Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

Notice how Jesus is saying his dedicated followers will have their needs met in this life (family, housing, and farmland). Then later "in the age to come," they will have eternal life. Jesus never said that eternal life comes with incredible wealth. In the gospels, Jesus is focused on spiritual ideas—not material wealth.

By contrast, the Book of Revelation is wildly materialistic. The author begins and ends the book with incredible descriptions of wealth and opulence. In Revelation 1:12-16 and chapter 4, 21, and 22, we repeatedly see words like "golden," "crystal," and descriptions of every jewel imaginable. God himself is described in terms of precious stones.

At the same time, the Whore of Babylon is "adorned with gold and jewels and pearls" in Revelation 17:4. Babylon's overt display of wealth is apparently not an inherent issue for Revelation's author, because he describes the New Jerusalem using many of the same materialistic terms as the Whore of Babylon.

The massive city of New Jerusalem, roughly half the size of the United States, is covered in two million square miles of pure solid gold. Its walls are made of pure jasper, the foundations of the walls are "adorned with every jewel," and each gate is made of a massive, solid pearl. Even the street is made of pure gold.

Many Christian theologians and scholars gloss over the glaring differences between Revelation, the gospels, and even the Old Testament—but some scholars have taken note. In his book The Streets of Heaven: The Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John, Professor Robert M. Royalty writes:

The Apocalypse of John describes a wealthy God, a golden clad Messiah, and their angelic forces destroying an opulent trading city and rewarding their true and loyal followers with a city of gold and jewels. (Royalty 29)

God, in the Apocalypse, dwells in a wealthier heaven than any Old Testament text describes... John concentrates wealth motifs in such a manner that any hearer/reader, knowledgeable about the Old Testament or not, would have felt the impact. (58)

Professor Royalty is not alone in this view. In the book Spectacles of Empire: Monsters, Martyrs, and the Book of Revelation, Professor of Religious Studies Christopher Frilingos states:

A frankly imperialist narrative, Revelation predicts the end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of a Christian one. (Frilingos 1)

For the author of Revelation, unchecked power, excessive wealth, and materialism are not the problem. The real issue, according to the author, is that the wrong people held all the power and wealth, and that Christians should be the ones holding the riches and power enjoyed by the Roman elite.

By contrast, the gospels—and the New Testament in general—were clearly not in favor of materialism and earthly wealth. In addition to the verses quoted earlier, 1 Peter 1:18-19 says Christians were rescued by "the precious blood of Christ" and not by "perishable things like silver or gold." This, along with the story of the rich young ruler, are just a few examples where riches are placed in direct opposition to salvation.

The early Christians and authors of the New Testament would be shocked to hear some pastors and televangelists pushing prosperity theology and promising literal mansions in heaven. The King James Version quotes Jesus saying "In my Father's house are many mansions," leading to songs like Mansion Over the Hilltop, but the original Greek is closer to "rooms" or "dwelling places." It's not materialistic.

As we covered before, early Christians debated the authority of the Book of Revelation for multiple reasons. In addition to viewing parts of the book as barbaric and vulgar, some were suspicious of its materialism and prediction of the Millennium—1,000 years of peace in which God's followers would rule the Earth.

Even today, Bible scholars recognize the stark contrast between Revelation's violence and materialism and the anti-materialist, merciful message found in the gospels. In the conclusion of The Streets of Heaven, Professor Royalty makes several striking observations:

...opposition to the dominant culture in the Apocalypse is not an attempt to redeem that culture but rather an attempt to replace it with a Christianized version of the same thing... The text creates a new culture of power that mimics the dominant ideology; only the names and labels are changed. Revelation replaces Rome with the New Jerusalem and Caesar's court with God's, but the underlying power structures are essentially the same. The point of this rhetoric is not the redemption of the world or even of the Christian community but the establishment of a new theocratic empire. (Royalty 246)

This in and of itself does not mean Christians must completely ignore the book of Revelation. However, it should cause everyone to think twice about why it stands in such stark contrast to the rest of the New Testament and recognize that this book was not meant as a prophecy for anyone living today.

Seven Churches

Similar to Daniel, the Book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature. Remember, this genre of writing was meant to provide an urgent message, about near-future events, specifically for people alive when it was written.

Revelation was not written for Christians living today or in the future—it was written for Christians living when the book was written, belonging to seven churches located in present-day Turkey. These churches are named in Revelation 1:11 (Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea) and the author says he wrote the book on the Greek island of Patmos, west of these churches.

Revelation 22:8-10 contains supporting evidence that this book was meant to be understood by Christians living when it was written. According to this passage, an angel told the author "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near." In other words, the true meaning of the prophecy was not meant to be kept secret until a later date; it was meant to be understood immediately.

Many Adventists would find these statements heretical, but some actually agree, including David Larson, Professor Emeritus at the School of Religion at Loma Linda University. Professor Larson affirms some of the same points made here, including that the author’s identity is disputed and that Revelation was not written for modern Christians. He has also criticized Adventist historicism in general.

Unlike many Evangelical Christians, traditional Adventists believe in a "Historicist" interpretation of Revelation. This interpretation claims most of the events described in Revelation have already happened, and we are now living in "the toenails of time" right before the "time of trouble" and the second coming.

Mainstream American Evangelicals generally believe in a "Future History" interpretation of Revelation. The Future History interpretation claims everything in Revelation chapters 4 through 22 is a prediction of future events that haven't happened yet. As noted by Bible scholar L. Michael White, this view developed in the early 19th century and had "a strong reforming element, both in Britain and America."

The new view, therefore, began to argue that none of the events described in the Book of Revelation after chapters 1-3 (i.e., John's vision and the letters to the seven churches of Asia) had yet come to pass. All the florid images of Revelation 4-22 were instead considered to be predictions of future events that would come to pass in literal terms as the return of Christ and the end approached. Thus, this view looks at Revelation as prediction of "future history."

Historicist and Future History interpretations of Revelation are both incredibly flawed. Bible scholars, along with a good number of Christian denominations, recognize the Book of Revelation for what it is: apocalyptic literature meant for earlier Christians in a very specific time and place. Revelation was never a prophetic code meant to be cracked by Christians living hundreds or thousands of years later.

Like the concept of Biblical inerrancy, the popular widespread belief that Revelation predicts literal events far into the future is a fairly recent invention. This is not a position historically held by most Christians.

Revelation repeatedly stated the events it described would happen very soon. This supports the point we made earlier—apocalyptic literature was often used to present urgent messages about near-future events, intended for people living when the message was originally given.

The First Beast

‍Revelation 13 mentions two beasts: one coming from the sea, and one coming from the earth. Adventists have historically identified the first beast from the sea as the Roman Catholic Church. However, Revelation's description of the first beast actually fits the ancient Roman Empire.

Bible scholars have noted the seven heads of the first beast described in Revelation 13:1 clearly represent the Seven Hills of Rome. This is made obvious in Revelation 17:9, which says "the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated."

Again, this is not referring to the Roman Catholic Church—it is referring to the ancient Roman Empire, because the author of Revelation correctly viewed the Roman Empire as an enemy and persecutor of the early Christians. This explanation from Bible scholar L. Michael White makes it abundantly clear:

At the center of it all is the recognition of how Revelation is depicting the Roman Empire as the Great Whore, with the Emperor as the seven-headed "beast from the sea," who are the ones carrying out Satan's war against God on earth.

Revelation's author identified the ancient Roman empire using both geography and historical events:

Accordingly, the woman sits on the seven-headed beast as a symbol of her "seven hills" -- the seven hills of Rome. The woman is the city of Roman, here depicted as the persecutor of Christians. Then it says that the seven heads are also seven kings. And we can read from its cryptic terminology the references to the Emperors of Rome. The "five fallen" refer to the five emperors who have died: Augustus (29 BCE - 14 CE), Tiberius (14-37 CE), Gaius (37-41), Claudius (41-54) and Nero (54-68).

The death of emperor Nero Caesar, the last of these five fallen emperors, is the wound described in Revelation 13:3 as "mortal," "deadly," or "fatal" depending on the translation:

One of its heads seemed to have received a death blow, but its fatal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. (NRSV)

Adventists have historically "attached prophetic significance" to the year 1798, claiming the deadly wound in Revelation 13:3 predicted the arrest and imprisonment of Pope Pius VI by French troops. Some Adventists still use this historical event to claim the first beast is the Roman Catholic Church.

In reality, Dr. White explains how the deadly wound refers to emperor Nero Caesar:

"One has a wound" refers to the emperor Nero, who died in 68, but whom contemporary legend had it would return from the dead to continue persecuting the Christians. Thus, the beast has a head that has recovered from a mortal wound.

The myth of Nero's return from the dead is referred to as the Nero Redivivus legend. It was widely known by Jews, Christians, and non-Christians alike. In fact, the oldest written account of this myth comes from the Sibylline Oracles, written by some Jewish and Christian writers, which helped popularize the legend.

Belief in the Nero Redivivus legend was also spread by several imposters and forgeries promising that Nero would return soon. Christians were understandably concerned with the return of emperor Nero, especially because Revelation left clues pointing directly to Nero.

666 or 616?

Most people know the number of the beast is 666. But a very common misconception is that this number is just three sixes in a row, probably because people tend to say it as "six six six." The bestselling Bible translations in the U.S. (NIV, ESV, and NLT) have added to this confusion by just writing the number "666." This is technically correct, but can mislead people about what the original Greek says.

In old manuscripts and fragments of Revelation, the original Greek spelled the number six hundred sixty-six using Greek letters. It was always meant to be understood as one single number. In fact, the number of the beast was never originally written using the number "6". Hindu-Arabic numerals (the numbers 0-9) came to Europe over 1,000 years after Revelation was written; before then, "666" was written using letters.

An even lesser known fact is that 666 is not the only number of the beast. In Papyrus 115, one of the oldest fragments of this passage in Revelation, the number of the beast is 616. In that manuscript fragment, the Greek letters chi (600), iota (10), and stigma (6) are used to form the number six hundred sixteen.

666 is the number found in most surviving manuscripts, including the oldest known copy of Revelation, Papyrus 47. But 616 is also found in multiple manuscripts of Revelation. Early Christians, including Irenaeus, knew and wrote about the existence of both 666 and 616.

Most Adventists are not aware of this fact, and have focused entirely on the number "666." Since the late 1800s, some Adventists have falsely claimed the true meaning behind 666 is a title used by Catholic popes. This myth is still repeated today by some SDA groups like Amazing Facts, even though it was refuted in 1948 by Le Roy Froom, an Adventist leader and church historian.

Many others have come up with creative conspiracy theories on what the number 666 could truly represent. In the 1980s, some believed it pointed to U.S. President Ronald Reagan because his full name, Ronald Wilson Reagan, has six letters in each name (but again, this is ignores how the number was originally written).

In 1990, one delusional man even broke into the former president's home while he and his wife were inside. The man told federal agents that Reagan is the "Antichrist" and "must be killed." 17 years later, that man self-published a book titled Ronald Reagan Anti-Christ which has one review on Amazon.

Nero Caesar

Conspiracy theories aside, the primary view among Bible scholars is that both 666 and 616 refer to Nero Caesar, the first Roman emperor who persecuted Christians.

This is not an entirely new discovery or interpretation. As we'll explore further, some early Christians were aware of the number 616 and also identified Nero Caesar. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, among the most popular English-language encyclopedias during its time, also identified Nero with both 666 and 616:

Nero is here the beast that returns from the bottomless pit, "that was, and is not, and yet is"; the head "as it were wounded to death" that lives again; the gruesome similitude of the Lamb that was slain, and his adversary in the final struggle. The number of the Beast, 666, points certainly to Nero (ןורנ רסק = 666, or ורנ רסק = 616).

How do you get from "Nero Caesar" to the numbers 666 and 616? Numerology is often associated with astrology, mysticism, and even the occult, but it has also played a significant role in the Bible. In the Hebrew language, gematria is a form of numerology used to derive "mystical insights" from sacred writings.

The author of Revelation used gematria to secretly identify Nero Caesar with the number of the beast, and depending on the language, the emperor's name equals six hundred sixty-six or six hundred sixteen.

The Greek spelling "Neron Kaisar" is transliterated into Hebrew as NRWN QSR, with a numerical value of 666. The Latin spelling "Nero Caesar" is transliterated into Hebrew as NRW QSR, with a numerical value of 616.

You may be wondering, "Why is there a difference of 50 between the Greek and Latin spellings?" This is because the letter "N" is equivalent to the Hebrew letter Nun, which has a gematria value of 50. The Greek spelling NRWN contains two "Ns" and the Latin spelling NRW contains only one.

Why would the author of Revelation, originally writing in Greek, transliterate Nero Caesar's name into Hebrew? Revelation 13:18 provides a clue: "This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number for a person."

The author of Revelation added a layer of complexity and gave his faithful followers a hint to calculate the secret meaning—possibly to hide the true meaning from the Roman authorities. We know that the author was familiar with transliteration, because he also used transliteration for other names.

Revelation's intended audience would have understood this clue. We have archaeological evidence that in the time and place of Revelation's audience, "Hebrew characters were used for traditional Jewish names and for transliterated Latin names." They were used for inscriptions and even graffiti, so it's entirely possible that "some of Revelation’s early readers would have been familiar with this practice."

As scholars and even some Christian apologists have pointed out, Nero was already associated with numerology in popular culture before Revelation was written. Isopsephy, the Greek equivalent of gematria, was used in Greek and Latin graffiti mocking Nero after he ordered the murder of his own mother:

Suetonius relates an example of isopsephia when he records that graffiti appeared in both Greek and Latin lampooning Nero after he had his mother killed: "A calculation new. Nero his mother slew"... In Greek, both "Nero" and "killed his own mother" have the same numerical value (1005).

Scholars have different theories about why bible manuscripts contain both Greek and Latin spellings of Nero's name, but they agree that Nero Caesar is the only plausible name that fits both 666 and 616:

Regardless of the number, Nero is the only name that can account for both 666 and 616, which is the most compelling argument that he, and not some other person, such as Caligula or Domitian, was intended... for the number to have any significance for a reader of the first century AD, it would have to refer to a contemporary historical figure "for it is the number of a man."

There's a very good reason that Nero Caesar was identified by the author of Revelation: Christians already saw Nero as a major persecutor and some believed he was the Antichrist, or would return as the Antichrist after his death (the "fatal wound" of Revelation 13:13).

As we explored earlier, Nero Redivivus was a popular myth. This fact was even acknowledged by early Christian author Lactantius, whose fourth century work Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died covers emperor Nero and the Nero Redivivus legend in Chapter 2:

He it was who first persecuted the servants of God; he crucified Peter, and slew Paul: nor did he escape with impunity; for God looked on the affliction of His people; and therefore the tyrant, bereaved of authority, and precipitated from the height of empire, suddenly disappeared, and even the burial-place of that noxious wild beast was nowhere to be seen. This has led some persons of extravagant imagination to suppose that, having been conveyed to a distant region, he is still reserved alive; and to him they apply the Sibylline verses concerning "The fugitive, who slew his own mother, being to come from the uttermost boundaries of the earth;" as if he who was the first should also be the last persecutor, and thus prove the forerunner of Antichrist!

In The City of God, an influential book by Christian theologian and philosopher Augustine, completed c. 426, Augustine acknowledged that some Christians believed Paul referred to the Roman empire, that Nero's actions were "as the deeds of Antichrist," and that Nero would come back to life as the literal Antichrist:

Some think that the Apostle Paul referred to the Roman empire, and that he was unwilling to use language more explicit, lest he should incur the calumnious charge of wishing ill to the empire which it was hoped would be eternal; so that in saying, "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work," he alluded to Nero, whose deeds already seemed to be as the deeds of Antichrist. And hence some suppose that he shall rise again and be Antichrist.

This clear identification of Nero was not limited to Christians in Europe. In the Liber genealogus, a fifth century text that originated with North African Christians, Nero is also identified with the number of the beast—and their copy of Revelation even used the number 616 instead of 666.

This important historical context shows that traditional Adventist theories, while fascinating, are extremely different from what earlier Christians believed. Traditional Adventist interpretations often ignore historical context and appear completely unaware or uninterested about why the number of the beast is also 616.

• Revelation was not originally included in the Bible—it was one of the last books to be accepted in the various biblical canons, and that was a gradual process. Early Christians noted its stark contrast to the gospels, and Martin Luther initially didn't accept Revelation as having the same authority as the gospels.
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• Unlike the gospels, Revelation is full of violent imagery and celebrates revenge. In this book, God's love is limited exclusively for the followers of Jesus. Additionally, incredibly brutal and violent acts are attributed to Jesus, which contradict the merciful character of Jesus found in the gospels.
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• Revelation is also full of materialistic imagery that is in direct conflict with the rest of the New Testament. While Jesus focused on spiritual ideas and directly opposed materialism, the Book of Revelation describes God in terms of jewels and paints a picture of incredible wealth and opulence.
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• Bible scholars have noted the violence and materialism in Revelation stands in direct opposition to the New Testament. Instead of continuing the theme of mercy and meekness, Revelation appears to uphold Rome's culture of wealth, dominance, and imperialism while simply replacing it with Christian labels.
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• The Book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature written for earlier Christians belonging to seven churches in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). Revelation was never meant to be a prophetic code for Christians living hundreds or thousands of years later.
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• The first beast of Revelation was the ancient Roman Empire—not the Roman Catholic Church. The "seven heads" of the first beast represent the seven hills of Rome, and the "five fallen" kings represent emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius, and Nero.
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• The "number of the beast" is commonly known as 666, but it is written as 616 in several manuscripts, including one of the earliest known fragments of this passage. Both numbers refer to emperor Nero Caesar, who was widely known as a persecutor of Christians; some believed he was the Antichrist.
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• Using Hebrew gematria, the Greek spelling Neron Kaisar equals 666 and the Latin spelling Nero Caesar equals 616. Archaeological evidence indicates that Revelation's audience would have understood these references, and Bible scholars agree Nero Caesar is the only plausible name that fits both 666 and 616.