Revelation 14:9

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, If any man worshippeth the beast and his image, and receiveth a mark on his forehead, or upon his hand,

The previous verse had the announcement of the fall of the first beast, pagan Rome; this series of verses (Revelation 14:9-12), records the prophetic doom of the second beast, the land-beast, apostate religion in league with the false state. See the chapter outline.

If any man worshippeth the beast and his image ... It is the mention of the "image" here that identifies this as the second beast, but it is by no means exclusive. All over the world till the end of time, wherever a secular state is bolstered and supported by an apostate, or totally false, religion, there will be found people worshipping the beast and his image. Bruce entitled this little section, "The Doom of Apostates."[47] This verse says, "You cannot sin and get away with it."[48]

And receiveth a mark upon his forehead or upon his hand ... Again, the nature of this mark is that of a "spiritual likeness" of the beast. If one receives intellectually the claims of the beast, or in hand does the will of the beast, he is marked. Paramount in this is individual responsibility.

The man, individual man, is responsible. There is no need for his receiving the mark, the hallmark of cowardly connivance at wrong-doing, or for setting his judgments by the fashion of the world.[49]

[47] F. F. Bruce, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 654.

[48] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 186.

[49] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 602.