The Number That Falls Short: The Mark, the Man, and the Mind (Revelation, No. 2)

"Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred and sixty and six" (Revelation 13:18).

No number in the Bible has frightened more people than this one. It has been pinned on dictators, on popes, on computers, and on the barcode on a can of soup. Every one of those sermons was preached with conviction, and every one of them aged badly.

In The Number That Falls Short, Dr. John W. Edmerson reads Revelation 13 the way John asked it to be read: with wisdom, with patience, and with the humility to say what is certain and what is open. He sets out fairly the readings careful students have held, and he shows what all of them agree on. Six is man trying to be God and falling short, three times over. The mark was never a machine; it was a signature, the pressure to go along with the crowd for the sake of your bread. And the beast can count to six, but he never gets to seven.

Each booklet in the series gives the preacher and the teacher a matched pair: a full expository sermon manuscript ready for the Sunday pulpit, and a companion Bible study for the Wednesday class, with passage context, historical background, Greek and Hebrew word studies, discussion questions, and a teacher's answer key.

The Denton Lectures Doctrinal Defense Series, Volume 27: Revelation. Studies in Difficult Passages in Revelation, No. 2. 39 pages, 6x9 layout, delivered as a PDF download. Scripture quotations from the American Standard Version (1901).