The Gentile dictator of the revived Roman empire has nine different identifications (aliases) in the scripture:

1. He is the feet of the image in Daniel 2:31-35.

2. He is the little horn of Daniel 7:8,9, 19-26. 3. He is the prince that shall come in Daniel 9:26,27.

4. Ezekiel calls him the prince of Tyrus in 28:1-10 (Tyrus is Latin for Tyre).

5. From the standpoint of his statue Daniel calls him the abomination of desolation, as does Matthew - Daniel 11:31; 12:11; Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14.

6. He is called the man of sin in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10.

7. He is also the Antichrist. The preposition “anti” has two meanings: against and instead of. So both of these dictators are anti-Christ. This one is anti-Christ [against Christ] and as such he is mentioned in 1 John 2:18, and will be studied in Revelation 13:6.

8. He is the scarlet-coloured beast on whom the great prostitute rides in Revelation 17:3, 8-13.

9. He is the beast out of the sea in Revelation 13:1-10.

At some point in these ten verses most of those passages just mentioned will be brought in, either by way of amplification or to give us additional information about this dictator.

The Biblical identification of the Jewish dictator. Five aliases are found in the Word

1. Dan the serpent (an interpretative alias), Genesis 49:16-18.

2. The king who shall do according to his own will, Daniel 11:36-40.

3. He is the Antichrist in the connotation of the preposition anti [instead of]. He passes himself off as Christ. He comes instead of Christ, hence he is the false Messiah of Matthew 24:23,24; Revelation 13:11, 13,14.

4. He is also the false prophet of Revelation 16:13; 19:20; 20:10.

5. The beats out of the earth [land, of Israel], Revelation 13:11-18.

By way of summary of the two dictators called the first and the second beast

1. The first beast is a Gentile; the second beast is a Jew.

2. The first beast is a political dictator of the revived Roman empire in the Tribulation; the second beast is a political dictator of Israel in the Tribulation.

3. The first beast is a religious leader of ecumenical religion in the Tribulation; the second beast is the leader of Judaism in the Tribulation.

4. Each beast is an antichrist. The first beast is anti-Christ in the sense of against our Lord; the second beast is anti-Christ in the sense of “instead of” — the false Messiah.

5. The first beast is totally demonised in the cosmic system; the second beats is also eventually totally demonised in the cosmic system.

6. The capital of the first beast will be Rome; the capital of the second beast will be Jerusalem.