The forty-two months (v. 5) is the second half of the Tribulation period, which portion is usually called “the Great Tribulation.” But it is not necessary to limit the career of the beast to this period. Walvoord presents the dispensational position:

It is probable that the person who heads the revived Roman Empire comes into power before the beginning of the entire seven-year period of Daniel 9:27, and as such enters into covenant with the Jewish people. His role as world ruler over all nations, however, does not begin until the time of the Great Tribulation. From that point, he continues forty-two months until the second coming of Christ terminates his reign.

Gaebelein writes that

this empire will be revived in the first part of the final seven years. We saw this under the first seal. Here is the beginning of the forty-two months the dragon gives to him his power, and his throne, and great authority. It becomes now fully possessed by Satan.

In our irreligious and secularized time, it is hard to imagine a time in which all who dwell on the earth will worship (v. 8) anything or anyone! However, as Tenney explains,

the worship of the beast is compulsory, being imposed upon the world by conquest (13:7), by propaganda (13:12), by lying miracles (13:13–15), and by social and economic pressure (13:16–17). This coercion constitutes the last great attempt to unify all religions under one general system with a powerful, visible, personal object of worship who is also the head of the state and in whose hands rests the power of life and death over his subjects.

The call, If anyone has an ear, let him hear (v. 9), resembles the warning at the end of each of the seven letters in chapters 2 and 3, except that the earlier statements ended with the additional phrase “what the Spirit says to the churches.” Walvoord believes that

the omission of the phrase “unto the churches” in 13:9 is most significant and tends to support the teaching that the church, the body of Christ, has previously been raptured and is not in this period. The exhortation in Revelation 13 is much wider. It is to anyone who will listen, and the message is not addressed to the church as such but to the entire world.

While the beast from the sea is not difficult to identify, the same cannot be said for the second beast, who rises up out of the earth [or land] (v. 11). Preterist expositors have advanced at least three positions. The most frequently encountered view suggests that this beast is a symbol for “the cult of the emperor,” that is, that organized force within the empire that sought to enforce the worship of the Caesars. The second beast’s two horns like a lamb (v. 11) suggest a religious nature more that a political one. Among those who make this identification is David S. Clark:

This suggests religious activities. And so this second beast is rightly recognized as the Pagan religion or pagan priesthood. This Pagan religion supported the imperial power. It helped to hold up the hands of the emperors.

One of the major evidences for identifying the beast with Nero is this information about the number of his name (v. 17). John obviously did not expect his readers who had understanding (v. 18) to have any difficulty in identifying the beast, since they could simply calculate the meaning of this cryptogram. Here using English characters, the Hebrew form of “Caesar Nero” is Nrwn Qsr (pronounced “Neron Kaiser”). The value of the seven Hebrew letters is 50, 200, 6, 50, 100, 60, and 200, respectively. The total is thus 666. This is the solution advocated by David S. Clark, Jay Adams, Kenneth Gentry, David Chilton, and most others.

It is generally held that this beast is a religious leader—or even a counterfeit messiah—in contrast to the largely political character of the first beast. It seems apparent that the second beast is to be identified with the “false prophet” in 16:13, 19:20, and 20:10.

Some do not consider the figure of the second beast to represent a man so much as a concept. Ladd suggests that this beast represents organized religion, prostituted for evil ends, employed to support civic power. Mounce agrees: “The false prophet stands for the role of false religion in effecting the capitulation of mankind to the worship of secular power. It is the universal victory of humanism.”

More common among futurist scholars is the opinion that this beast, like the first, is an individual. Walvoord is typical of this persuasion: “The identification of the second beast as the head of the apostate church is indicated in many ways in the book of Revelation.” Walvoord uses a lengthy quotation from Alford to imply approval of the suggestion that this beast may be the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Some believe that the second beast, rather than the first, should be identified as the Antichrist. In this view, he would be a Jew posing as the long-awaited Jewish messiah. Gaebelein is of this opinion:

The second beast is a Jew.… The sphere of the second beast is Palestine.… This second beast is the final, personal Antichrist.… He is a counterfeit lamb and his two horns are an imitation of the priestly and kingly authority of Christ. He is the one of whom our Lord spoke (John 5:43). He is the man of sin, the son of perdition described by Paul in 2 Thess. 2. He must be a Jew or his claim to being Israel’s true Messiah would not be accepted by the Jews.

Many see in this passage a prediction of a cashless, worldwide economy in which credit/debit numbers assigned to individuals around the world replace the use of actual currency. Modern innovations in the banking industry may be leading in this direction. Eventually this number will be placed on the body of its possessor, possibly as an implanted computer chip or a laser-tattoo, in order to eliminate the possibility of theft or credit card fraud. Ryrie offers the basis for this literal view: “The word ‘mark’ means an impress made by a stamp, like a brand used on slaves and animals.”

Without this number, it will be impossible for anyone to do business, placing men under intense economic pressure to conform, which Biederwolf envisions as including something of a mandatory labor union: “The Antichrist will control the labor market. In order to buy or sell one will have to join the organization of which the Antichrist is the head.”

Attempts have been made to identify the number 666 with the names of many persons of ancient or modern history. One popular opinion is that the Antichrist will be a reincarnation of Nero or Judas Iscariot. Many modern historical figures have been shown to have names that can, by ingenious calculations, be made to conform to this diabolical cipher.