Secrets & Revelations
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Of the 66 Books of that make up the Bible, it is perhaps
the most misunderstood and misused. Does its rich and abundant use of symbolism
withhold secrets or disclose revelations? Take the number 666. ‘Here is wisdom.
Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the
number of a man: His number is 666’ (Rev. 13:18).
Some think 666 refers to Nero, the great persecutor of
early Christians. At the time of the Reformation of the Church, it was synonymous
with the papacy, as in false christs and prophets or antichrists (Matt. 24:24;
1 John 2:18), claiming to be head of Christ’s Church of which Christ alone is its
head (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22). More fanciful, and closer to our own day, some
linked it to Ronald Wilson Reagan, (count six letters in each name), and, because
a birthmark on his head, others attributed the ‘mark of the beast’ to Mikhail Gorbachev.
There are, no doubt, many others, past, present, and future, who have received or
will receive the appellation of the Antichrist.
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When it comes to speculation about verses such as the
666 passage, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 4:6 gives this warning, ‘Do not go beyond what
is written.’ And Moses wrote, ‘The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but
these things which are revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we
may do all the words of this law’ (Deut. 29:29). So, when it comes to secrets
and revelations within Scripture, the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647)
keeps the main thing the main thing where it says in chapter one paragraph six,
‘All
things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto
all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed,
for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture
or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the
ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.’
There is always a
tension between plumbing the depths of Scripture to garner
information and wild speculation. For example, the formation of the doctrine of
the Trinity is easily seen when the Bible is viewed systematically. Using the rule
of interpretation regained during the Reformation, that Scripture was not open
to any private interpretation, but that Scripture alone is to be used to
interpret Scripture, then God is seen as Father and Son and Holy Spirit, i.e.,
Triune. It takes a great deal of private interpretation and wild speculation to
deny this. However, many aberrational and downright heretical Christian sects
and cults have been formed through a misunderstanding the Biblical doctrine of
God. Again, the Westminster Confession keeps us on track where it says in
chapter one paragraph ten, ‘The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of
religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient
writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in
whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in
the Scripture.’ It is no secret that it is not by boards or councils but only by the Spirit working
with the Word that Christians (each individually) see the divine nature of
Jesus who says, ‘If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father’ (John 14:9).
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