666, The Number of Man (Poem)

See the 666 series here

Here is wisdom; he that hath understanding, 

account the number of the beast;

for it is the number of man,

and his number is six hundred sixty and six.

(Revelation 13:18, Wycliff Version)

Since Apostle John wrote The Book of Revelation,

Many of us in Christian circles have been perplexed,

About the number, 666, in Chapter 13.

In most texts, it’s ‘the number of a man or person’,

Thus, folks think this number, the anti-Christ will reflect.

Strategically reading it, we’ll …‘see what’s unseen’.

Others think the reference is to our imperfection.

If 7 refers to an absolute perfection,

Then 6 refers to man as short of perfection.

We're a composite spirit, soul and body creation.

Because of sin, each part reflects contamination.

Thus, 666 best reflects our situation.

The word, count, in that verse could infer calculation.

Thus, many folks have focused on ‘what to calculate?!’ 

Others concluded it’s not about a specific man,

But a reference to some kind of evil notion.

Even in the pending 4^th age, folks might speculate,

And may still never come, this number to understand. ¹

Into this broad, confusing mixture of opinions,

Herein, I will share a unique notion I perceive.

I do not seek concurrence. Please freely share your views.

Mine derive from insights about The Lord’s decisions,

Before creating us, then afterward, He grieved.

He grieved that He made us. To destroy us, He refused. ²

Rather, He stuck firmly to His original plan,

His Multi-millennial Strategic Plan for mankind,

The apex of His entire, glorious creation!

The core is 6 historical ages in this land,

Before, to a new Earth, ALL of us will be assigned. ³

This could well be the first 6 in the ‘calculation’!

From this insight, a second likely 6 is derived,

Knowing our time on the new Earth will be forever,

Affirms our time there will be our final age. Voila!

Seven ages of a strategic plan certify,

A total of 6 age-transitions and ‘make-overs’.

This could well be the second 6 in the trifecta!

Over 7 months, The Lord gave me these 2 insights.

Then, 7 months later, He coupled them to a 3rd.

What I thought was a 4-point, age-transition pattern,

Missed a Bible-confirmed point – Heaven’s transitions height:

Namely, 6 resurrection/rapture-type events stirred!

Thus, to complete 6 such events, all of Heaven yearns! ⁴

Friends, that could well be the third 6 in the trifecta!

A strategic reading of The Bible divulges:

--To us, 6 unique ages on this Earth are assigned,

--With 6 age-transition judgments since the man, Noah,

--Preceded by 6 resurrection-rapture-type purges.

666, Heaven’s number appointed to mankind. 

(Not just to one man!!!) 

In humility, I share these insights,

As part of The Lord's ...'strategic thinking saints vanguard'.

I seek no concurrence, nor debates, but I welcome,

Any feedback you may be led to write.

To receive more insights from The Lord, I’ll be on guard,

Per His Isaiah 28 policy dictum. ⁵

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¹ This refers to the predicted, 7-year, tribulation age during which The Bible affirms a strongman, the anti-Christ, will dominate world affairs. We are currently navigating the closing years of the 3rd Biblical age of human history, during which many strong men, and ‘wanna-be strong men’ are parading across the world stage. For more, see: Human History Ages (Series), and especially Historical Countdown - 7 Biblical Ages of Human History (w/Video).

² See: Genesis 6.

³ See: Earth’s Next Versions (Series), and also Pick Your '666' (Letter).

⁴ See: Mid-ages Musings (Series), and also Bible Raptures - Types and Timings (Series). 

⁵ See: Isaiah 28:10 & 13.

Migrations, Ascensions and Descensions (Poem)

From end-to-end, Bible stories portray,

Lessons to us The Lord wants to relay. 

From them, today He wants us to distill,

Insights on how to receive His goodwill.

 

But since human nature contradicts His,

Such insights we don’t seek, or will dismiss.

Thus, we’re like the folks in Bible stories,

Who proved to be …spiritual dummies!!!

 

In these stories, a constant theme is clear:

When rebukes folks had long refused to hear,

The Lord vomited them out of their lands!

Then He drew-in various migrant bands. ¹

 

Thus, massive in-and-out migration streams,

Persist as a human history theme.

Though in them we can’t perceive The Lord’s hand,

Here’s a point true Christians should understand.

 

Societal and national migrations,

That might be triggered by The Lord’s decisions,

In some strategic ways, will correlate,

With age-ending events He’ll instigate! ²

 

Across the Earth, all migrations occur.

Away from Earth, true saints He will transfer,

Via His ‘up-migrations providential’,

Ascensions to the new Earth, eternal.

 

And since migrations are both ‘in and out’,

He has planned our return with LOTS of clout!

It’ll be our ‘down-migration descension’,

For His Millennial dispensation! ³

 

Can you now perceive His rapture events,

Are akin to migrations He foments,

And our return with Him will be temporary,

Until our Millennial Anniversary?? ⁴

 

Friends, I hope, from this unique perspective,

Of The Lord’s plans that'll be transformative, ⁵

You will change any possibly negative penchants,

And bad attitudes toward …migration and migrants!

 

...Especially if, one day you aspire to be one of 

The Lord’s Glorified Migrants!

Many who mock or resist today's migrants,

long to become Christ's migrants tomorrow.

The hypocrisy is not lost on Heaven.

Selah..

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¹ This happened to many ancient city-states and nations, not just to ancient Israel and Judah.

² See: Group Raptures – Timings and Types (Series).

³ We will be fully empowered to help facilitate The Lord's global iron rod rule. See: The Millennial Reign (Series).

⁴ At the end of The Millennial Reign, we will be raptured/ascend/migrate back to the new, eternal Earth.

⁵ In our initial raptures/ascensions/migrations, deceased saints will be resurrected, and with saints who will be alive, we’ll all be corporeally transformed, from mortal-to-immortal beings. See: 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.

Raptures of Individuals

See the series here

The Bible records several pre- and post-death raptures of individuals. It also predicts a few such events will occur in the future.

The first pre-death rapture account of an individual is of Enoch, a 1st age (pre-flood) righteous man who walked with God for 300 years, then ‘could not be found, for God took him’. (Genesis 5:18-24) The presumption is he was raptured into Heaven, irrespective of an understanding in some circles that, only after Christ's sacrifice, paying the price for our sins, were humans admissible to Heaven. Nevertheless, God and Jesus do as They please. Consider this: satan, himself, the full essence of sinfulness, entered Heaven after, as Lucifer, he was expelled! (See: Job 1:6 and 2:1) Let’s allow Scripture to widen the aperture of our understanding. 

The second pre-death rapture account of an individual is of Elijah, a Jewish prophet who was physically caught up to 'heaven' in a chariot of fire, with horses of fire, in a whirlwind. (2 Kings 2) Where he was taken is not specified, since throughout The Bible, 'heaven' has various meanings. (See: How did Elijah send a letter to King Jehoram, if...)

The first post-death rapture accounts of an individual are of Jesus, first, immediately after His resurrection (John 20), and second, after He had spent several weeks among His disciples and followers, and was seen being caught up to Heaven in a cloud. (Acts 1) 

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul details His account of being spiritually caught up into Heaven in a vision, but this does not equate to a physical rapture.

The  second post-death rapture accounts of individuals is of two, unique, righteous witnesses during the great tribulation (the apocalypse). They will testify of Jesus, be killed by the global anti-Christ ruler, be resurrected to life, and then will be raptured in a cloud into Heaven. (Revelation 11) Like Jesus, the rapture of these men will be uniquely different, since it seems they might pre-exist in Heaven, before being dispatched to accomplish their earthly tribulation age ministry. Moreover, these men might be further distinguished if/IF they will be from the group of saints from the first 2 ages of our history, who were resurrected and raptured with Jesus at His resurrection. If so, they may be the only people who will experience physical death twice (See: Hebrews 9:27), but will not be the only ones who will be raptured twice. (See: Group Raptures (Series).)

Group Raptures - Timings and Types (Part 1)

See the series here

The Bible, The Lord’s Multi-millennial Strategic Plan for Human History, indicates 6 group rapture-type events that occurred/will occur on the cusp of His 6 predicted age-transitioning global judgments. The Bible does not use the word, rapture. Paul uses the phrase, ‘caught up’, to signify how The Lord’s bona fide saints, those deceased first, then those alive, will, in a nano-second, be transformed from mortal-to-immortal, to meet  The Lord on a cloud and transferred to Heaven. We will this be spared from The Lord’s apocalyptic judgments during the last half (42 months) of that short age. The phrase, ‘caught up’, is cited 4 times in the New Testament (New King James Version) 3 times in Paul’s writings, and once in The  Book of Revelation, referring to Jesus, The Lord God. (See: Ages Transitions Global Judgments (Poem) and Mid-ages Musings (Series).)

Here are the first 4 group rapture-type events:

#1. Noah and His Family

During the global flood, Noah and his family were caught up--raised high above, from destructions below. In the ark, they were lifted up above the heights of the mountains, as The Lord judged all un-repentant sinners. When the ark settled on Mt. Ararat, this crew of 8 people disembarked, along with the animals who were also spared, to a quasi-new, restructured Earth, in which, possibly unknown to them, there were oceans and continents. Though the Earth was transformed, they were not. Nor were they resurrected from the dead, nor raptured into Heaven. The Lord’s pre-flood decision to not destroy all of humanity, was based on allowing Grace to Noah to be a ‘quasi-Adam’, from whose seed (his 3 sons), humanity would be re-populated. So thank God this crew was saved, and were not raptured into Heaven! Thus, this constitutes the 1st group, non-resurrection, rapture-type, event. 

This highlights a frequently missed distinction. In Scripture, rapture does not primarily describe a location, but a position relative to judgment. Noah was not removed from the Earth; he was lifted above the reach of judgment while it unfolded beneath him. Likewise, biblical rapture events consistently involve separation, protection, and transition—often following a rupture of the Earth itself—rather than a simple change of physical destination.

In a later series, The 6th Seal--Civilization's Reset? (Series), came to see that the distinction articulated here is not incidental, but foundational across Scripture: rapture describes position relative to judgment, not destination. What appears here in Noah as a rapture-type pattern, reappears consistently at major age transitions.

References: Genesis 6 -8, 1 Peter 3:18-22 and 2 Peter 2:4-5.

#2. 1st and 2nd Ages Saints

Matthew 27:51-53 (read together with Matthew 28:2) record the 1st combined group resurrection, and 2nd rapture-type event. Context: During the crucifixion of Jesus, Father God spiritually cast upon Him, the global judgment of every sinful human act that had occurred, and would occur throughout our history. This judgment came with a Grace proviso: forgiveness of sins would be applied to people, past and future, who would, by faith, believe and receive His forgiveness. The immortal twins (soul and spirit) of every deceased saint from the 1st and 2nd ages (who had died in faith in/toward the unseen/unknown God), BELIEVED as the spirit of Jesus, after Hew was crucified, reportedly preached His Gospel of saving Grace to them in what The Bible refers to as the protected, upper region of hell. (Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 3) Sadly, the overwhelming majority of us since then, did not and don’t believe. Thus, we reject(ed) this exceedingly generous Grace proviso. Embracing this Grace proviso is the only way available for us to receive what The Bible calls ‘eternal life’, defined as spending our eternity in two massive, GLORIFIED/lit-up) zones (the new Jerusalem and surrounding nations, per Revelation 21-22) on the new eternal Earth.

Debates swirl in Christian circles about the likely size and extent of this group resurrection and rapture event The Lord revealed to me when He was resurrected, He globally fulfilled David’s prophecy in Psalm 68:18, resurrecting ALL 1st and 2nd ages bona fide saints from the upper region of hell/hades, to the new, eternal Earth He had, centuries earlier, promised to Isaiah. Some of you might retort, ‘But in Acts 1:9, Jesus  visibly ascended ALONE into Heaven!’ Yes, He did, with no visible humans, and possibly with invisible angels. That verse refers to His second, post-resurrection ascension. Together, John 20:17-20 an Acts 1:9 affirm He ascended into Heaven twice. For some unknown reason, many pastors and Bible teachers might overlook this fine point. Ergo, folks ‘in the pews’ miss it. The Missed Insight topical series below further exposit the contextual details of this global, group resurrection. 

References: Matthew 27:51-53, Psalm 68:18, Ephesians 4:7-10, 1 Peter 3:19, 4:6, Isaiah 65:17 and 66:24, Missed Insights from Matthew 27 (Series), and Earth’s Next Versions (Series). 

#3. Third Age Saints

The 3rd group rapture-type event will be of all 3rd age, bona fide, sustainable Christians, us who will have deceased and who are still alive. It will be the 2nd combined group resurrection, and the 3rd rapture-type event. Paul indicates this harvest will occur prior to the uncloaking of the anti-Christ man. He further reveals all sustainably faithful saints who will still be alive at the time of this event, are not appointed to The Lord’s pending wrath against all un-repentant sinners. Paul asserts The Lord will bring with Him all the immortal twins (spirits and souls) of the deceased, 3rd age saints to be united with their bodies, then made immortal. 

With the church age saints gone, what explains the presence of Christians in the tribulaiton age, and the apocalypse, many or possibly all of whom will be beheaded by the anti-Christ’s regime? I address this topic in Christians in the Apocalypse (poem), and Christianesque (Poem).

References: Romans 1:18, 2 Corinthians 5:8, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-18, 5:9, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, and Missed Insights from Revelation 20. See also: The 6th Seal, Civilization’s Reset?

#4. 4th Age Saints 

The 4th group rapture-type event will be of all 4th age, bona fide, sustainable Christians, deceased and still alive. It will be the 3rd combined group resurrection, and 4th rapture-type event. This is the event Jesus described in Matthew 24:29-31, The Lord’s ‘harvest’ reaped from the tribulation age. The beheaded among them will be those who will have been ‘spiritually sealed’ in the last half of Revelation 7 (similar to how a righteous Judean remnant was sealed in Ezekiel 9 before the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem). Unfortunately, this resurrection/rapture event is too often conflated and confused with the resurrection/rapture event Paul described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, referring to the 3rd age event. This confusion might result from Paul’s use of the phrase, ‘the coming of The Lord’, in verse 15, and Matthew’s use of a similar phrase in chapter 24:30. A contextual, strategic reading of these passages reveals they are referring to distinctly separate events. Note that Paul does not address whether The Lord will or will not be visible, but later, John signaled in Revelation 6:12-17 that The Lord will be visible, but not ON the Earth during the 6th seal judgment--which I intuit might be when all bona fide 3rd age saints might be resurrected/raptured. In Jesus' Matthew 24 description, He will clearly be fully visible ON the Earth. The event Paul describes will be BEFORE the anti-Christ is revealed. The event Jesus describes will clearly be AFTER the anti-Christ is not only revealed, but will have completed his assignment! 

Revelation 19 signals the timing of The Lord's return onto the Earth. It will be His  3rd coming, not 2nd coming sometime after the Marriage Supper of The Lamb (Revelation 19). He will return with: (1) all His angels, (2) all His resurrected saints from the first 3 ages of history in our immortal bodies, and (3) all the immortal twins (spirits and souls) of the deceased, 4th age saints, to be united with their bodies, then made immortal. This infers all deceased 4th age saints will have participated in the marriage supper event in their immortal bipartite (spirit and soul) form, whereas all 1st - 3rd ages saints, who will have been resurrected and raptured, will have participated in that supper in their tripartite (spirit, soul and body) form. Interesting! 

The purposes of The Lord’s physical return will be to (a) end the apocalypse via the Armageddon War, (b) cast the anti-Christ and his prophet (prime minister?), as immortal beings, into the lake of fire (see: Ephemeral then Eternal Earth (Series)), (c) lock-up-and away satan's entire kingdom into an abyss/bottomless pit for a thousand years, and (d) initiate His long-promised, long-awaited global Millennial Reign. Whew! That's quite a list for a short, intense period! 

Speculations vary regarding whether The Lord's physical return to Earth will include ending the Ezekiel 38 invasion into Israel, or whether this will be done previously from Heaven. Ezekiel 38 does not indicate His physical presence. Zechariah 14 does indicate His physical presence. Ezekiel 38 seems to refer to a smaller, distinctly different war, than the wars described in Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19. It is clear the events described in Ezekiel 39 will occur during the first few months and years of The Millennial Reign age.

The group of 4th age saints will very likely include a combination of new saints, plus many 3rd age former saints who will have become Christianesque, lukewarm, backslidden, then fully apostate (falling away from the faith, per 2 Thessalonians 2 and 1 Timothy 4) during the closing years of this current, 3rd age of our history. (Perhaps you are aware of the significant extent to which this happened during and after the Covid 19 pandemic!)  Many apostate believers will likely return to strong faith, possibly when they realize they will have missed the group resurrection-rapture of 3rd age believers, and will/must, therefore, face the wrath, not of The Lord, but of the anti-Christ!

Friends, I trust this point will deeply inspire, then move you to resist all forms of lukewarmness, backsliding and apostasy during what certainly appears to be these closing years of the current, 3rd Biblical age of human history! Moreover, I hope it will also inspire and move you to help warn others, especially people who have already left the faith, about what lies ahead for those who will survive the pending transition to the 4th age of history! 

Tip: Sharing some relevant posts in this blog might help to open the eyes and hearts of saints and former saints on this extremely critical matter.

Several historical and cultural factors indicate Christian lukewarmness, backsliding and full apostasy are spiking across the world, especially in the west. For example, the spike in Christian nationalism is very likely the results of folks’ growing impatience and frustrations that the ‘demonstration effects’ of their ‘salty and light’ righteous lifestyles, have had little-to-no impacts on the spiritual degradation across the world. Yet, The Bible explicitly predicts the spiritual degradation we see all around us! The Lord never encouraged His bona fide saints to seize the levers of governments, in efforts to force sinners to live righteously!!! Believing such is believing an horrible, satanic deception. Our test is only to be faithful to what He called us to be, and to do, and to leave the results to Him! Ergo, I repeat, Christian nationalism is a clear devilish deception for which many former believers, sadly, have fallen. As a result, they sin by directly dis-obeying The Lord's commands to His saints, and thus, are blindly fulfilling Paul’s apostasy predictions in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 and 1 Timothy 4:1! Imagine that... 

Christian nationalism:

I find it strikingly curious that saints are willing to sin,

in order to force sinners to live righteously!

Imagine that!

Revelation 20:5-6 indicates this particular resurrection/rapture event will be the END of what is defined as ‘the FIRST resurrection’. From this, we should discern the word, first, is definitely NoT a numerical reference, since there will have been several resurrections prior to this one. This is akin to the non-numerical reference in Revelation to ‘second death‘. Folks who think sinners who will be cast into the lake of fire, will instantly be just another death as we currently understand death, are severely mistaken! That's simply another devilish deception. 

References: Revelation 7:9-17, 20:4, Audacious Christians (Series), Tribulation Age Precursors: Roads Beckoned, Then Taken (Poem), Laodicean Lackadaisicalness (Series), and Lake of Fire: A Preview (Series).

See Part 2