Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666. (Revelation 13:18, NLT)
I loved Henry Longhurst. He was golf correspondent for the London Sunday Times for 45 years. When he died, one writer said that “the old purple-faced whisperer has gone but, joyfully, his old purple prose will live for as long as literate men love games.”
Although Henry was a writer, most of us remember him as a TV commentator. The lovely British accent behind the words from the sixteenth tower at Augusta was Henry’s. He showed reverence for people like Jack Nicklaus, who make 40-foot putts on Sunday. He also was the voice of anguish when Doug Sanders missed the putt on the eighteenth at St. Andrews in 1970. He kept whiskey in the TV tower for such occasions.
My personal favorite Henry moment was when the BBC pulled up a picture of a winner’s scorecard which had seven or so consecutive threes. Henry was breathlessly in love with what his eyes beheld and whispered through the whiskey, “There’s nothing quite so lovely as threes on a card.”
The tone of his voice was what one hears as a beautiful bride walks down the aisle, so I am sure Henry would agree with the flip side of that coin: There’s nothing quite so ugly as sixes on a card. I know because last month I went 6-6-6 to finish the front nine.
I joked to my playing companions, “Don’t touch me. I might be the Antichrist.” Indeed. it makes perfect sense that such an evil man would play golf and make a bevy of sixes. If you are looking for the Antichrist, start with the 36 handicappers at your club.
The term antichrist is a common term for a futuristic personage found in Revelation 13 who may someday rule the world. But this actual name is not found in Revelation. It is only used by John the apostle in his letters.
“You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared” (1 John 2:18). John goes on to explain that “anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist” (1 John 2:22).
So, instead of a future evil man, let me suggest that the spirit of antichrist is here now.
John agreed with that idea when he went on to clarify that any person who “does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here” (1 John 4:3).
Did John say, “Already here”? Where did he get such an idea? Maybe Jesus himself.
John walked with Jesus for three years. He heard him say, “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me” (Matthew 12:30).
Ouch! The Antichrist is not just some scary character in the future. If I am not with Jesus, I am against him. An antichrist can be me.
We should be pro-Jesus. Anything less is anti-Christ. There is no middle ground. Being in the so-called middle may work in some political situations, but not when it comes to Jesus.
Jesus finished his sobering message with this, “The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you” (Matthew 12:37).
Words matter. I often wear a fishhook on my suit lapel. People ask, “Are you a fisherman?” I smile and say, “Jesus said, ‘Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’” The fishhook gives me a small opportunity to be pro-Jesus, to speak his powerful name. Anything less is 666.