God created man of the dust of the ground, breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and “man became a living soul.” In the words of the Apostle Paul, “That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:46-47)

Therein is the division between the earthly nature of the body and the spiritual soul together as one being comprised of two distinct parts. Man was made on the sixth day of creation and is represented in the Bible by the number six. The seventh day of rest is the Lord’s. As the week is incomplete without the seventh day, so is man without rest in the Lord. Six millennial days are given to mankind for work. Then comes rest for those whose labor was in the Lord, the completion and perfection of Christ.

When the first man, Adam, whom Paul calls the earthly man, fell to temptation, he became dead to the second man, whom Paul declares “the Lord from heaven.” Thus, Adam was left to his earthly nature; his spirit and conscience were overcome by the workings of sin in his flesh.

Nonetheless, there was hope because Adam and Eve retained a conscience; they had the knowledge of good and evil—otherwise, they would not have attempted to cover themselves and hide in the garden—however, they now were subject to their sinful nature.

The first man of the earth caused the second man of the soul to perish through sin. The only hope for mankind was to restore the second man to power through the death and resurrection of a Savior. The first man must be crucified; all must be born again through the rebirth of the Second Man within.

The conduit back to restore righteousness in a man’s heart is through a clear conscience—an acknowledgment of a difference between good and evil—and the desire for reconciliation back to life. This restoration is only possible through regeneration via the death and resurrection of Christ.

There is a war for the soul of man between the nature of the beast—the first man—and the tugging of the Spirit on the heart of man through his conscience. The nature of the beast will destroy any remnants of the conscience if one submits to it. God seeks our salvation before spiritual death is absolute; however, the Lord has stated, “My spirit will not always strive with man, for he is flesh.”

Like Pharaoh, if we consistently refuse to yield to the Lord, the conscience will harden until there is no avenue open to the soul.

Numbers are given notable significance in the Bible; the number six specifically relates to man. The Bible frequently uses the number three as a symbol of fulfillment.

The number six hundred sixty-six represents the natural man who has reached an absolute and irreversible state. It is permanent; there will no longer be any interaction with the Holy Spirit. In John 6:66, we read that certain of Jesus’ disciples turned back from following him, never to return again, after being offended by his sayings.

In the Revelation of John, which confirms a dream given to Nebuchadnezzar, it is revealed that the last kingdom on earth before the coming of Christ will be a kingdom unlike any before that subdues the whole earth—of whom it is said, “Who is like unto the Beast? Who is able to make war with him?”

Nonetheless, this worldly power is destroyed by a stone cut out of the mountain without hands that fills the earth and breaks in pieces the feet of the diverse peoples on which it stands. (Daniel 2).

God destroyed the work at Babel and scattered the people when they united against Him. When the world unites as one, there is no place for God. It is ruled by the earthly man with Satan sitting in the place of the Lord: the Beast.