It is able to give life to this image so that it could speak and kill anyone who does not worship the First Beast. This Beast is later called "The False Prophet" (Rev. 16:13; Rev. 19:20; Rev. 20:10). In Christian eschatology the Beast together with the Dragon (Satan) and the First Beast (the Antichrist) forms The Unholy Trinity.
Identity of the beast from the land
The Jewish religious system of the first century that conspired with the Roman state to suppress and persecute the early church (this is the view of several preterist interpreters).
A chief administrator of Roman rule in Ephesus and Asia Minor, i.e., the "henchman" of the Emperor. This is probably the provincial governor (or proconsul) who would have overseen the political and religious operations of the area from his capital in Ephesus.
The High Priest of the Provincial Imperial Cult, who would have been a leading citizen from one of the main cities. The imperial cult in Ephesus was set up by Domitian in 89 AD (Ephesus is the location of one of the Seven Churches on Asia to whom the Book of Revelation was addressed)
The Papacy (this is the view of some of the Protestant Reformers)
There are a number of sites online that identify the beast as being a revived Islamic Caliphate. By comparing the eschatology of the Bible and the Qu'ran, they claim to see how the eschatology in the Qu'ran fits straight into the eschatology in the Bible, if the revived Caliphate is the Beast and the Jesus in the Qu'ran is the AntiChrist of the Bible. Moreover, they claim that the historical Caliphate fits the description of the seventh empire and a revived Caliphate would fit the description of the eighth empire that is the seventh empire that was, but then did not exist, and then came back as the eighth empire, as described in the Book of Revelation.
More...
Walid Shoebat on the Mark of the Beast
Chuck Missler on the Mark of the Beast
