In the original reference in Daniel 7 the allusion is to Antiochus Epiphanes and his persecution of the Jews, but here the allusion is to a latter-day Antiochus who persecutes the Christian church. They may entertain an assurance of final victory and eternal life despite the hostility they may face. Equally, all those who are not the Lord's people will inexorably give worship to the beast. There is no middle ground. They are either for Christ or for the beast.
Some joyful anthem sing.
If the first beast is to be regarded more as a system of political power as we have argued, the second beast is the personal, religious, antichrist figure. The parody in this image is even more striking than was the case with the beast of the sea. John is now alluding to the figure of Daniel 8, just as he had been alluding to Daniel 7 in the earlier part of this chapter. The Reformers, for example, were of one mind in identifying him as antichrist, and in identifying the antichrist as the Roman Catholic church, and the papacy in particular. This identification found its way into the original formulation of the Westminster Confession of Faith.