The false prophet (i.e., the second beast)—by the series of contrasts, “small and great, rich and poor, free and bond [slave]”—then makes no exceptions to his demand that all people receive the mark of the Antichrist (i.e., the first beast). This mark of the beast is Satan’s substitute for the mark by which the 144,000 are sealed (Revelation 7:3) to identify them as belonging to the Lord. The mark of the beast identifies those who take it as followers of the beast and therefore under Satan’s control.