Revelation 2:7a; 2:11a; 2:17a; 2:29; 3:6; 3:13; 3:22

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches;

Nowhere in all of scriptures can I find the same exact phrase repeated over and over and over in such close proximity. Do you think, maybe, perhaps, that this is an indication of just how important the phrasing is to God and to us?

Let us break it down one element at a time. “He that hath an ear,”!

Ezekiel 12:2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

These ears do not belong to those in rebellion.

Matthew 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

These words Jesus spoke to His disciples. We are disciples of Christ, we are not in rebellion, we can hear the Spirit. Now “hear what the Spirit saith”.

Matthew 10:20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

When you listen, do you hear the words of men or the Spirit? We still have natural ears which are capable of listening to mere words. We have spiritual ears that are capable of hearing the Spirit.

Revelations 3:3a Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.

This great warning was given to the church in Sardis, which brings us to the third part, “to the churches.”

Revelation 3:2b I have not found thy works perfect before God.

The perfect work is wrought in God, delivered to us by the Holy Spirit, for the obedience of faith.

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Listen for the Spirit.

Revelation 13:16-18 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

666, There has been so much conjecture about this number that it in and of itself has grown a cult following. The suspicions about the exact meaning of the number has led to many wise and learned men to identify men’s name using numerology. Some so silly as to place a numerical value to the alphabet A=1… Z=26. English wasn’t even used at the time of this writing.

My personal favorite is 6 is the number of imperfection and 3 the number of man, so 666 is 6 repeated 3 times therefore 666 is the imperfect man. Isn’t that all of us?

What is obvious to me is the total focus upon the number and not so much about the issue addressed in the previous verses. No one will be able to buy or sell without the mark. Forget about the 666 for a moment and focus on the gravity of the method of payment. It has only been in recent years that man has been able to buy and sell without using money itself in a transaction.

Power outages brought this issue into focus for me at a local store. I had cash but they could not take it. Cash was useless and it is becoming more and more useless. The only place these days where businesses do a cash only basis is in transactions that are suspicious if not openly illegal.

How far off are we from a time when cash itself will no long be accepted?

Once again, focus, the signs of the times indicate that the time is growing shorter.

Revelation 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

And we ought to be about doing our Father’s will rather than fretting over the meaning of numbers.