Even as the general public was eager to fall prostrate before the dragon, so the public is equally eager to fall prostrate before the beast. Here is adulation for the partnership between the dragon and the beast, that is, the dragon and the natural bent of the fallen human heart.
4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”