In this series of articles, we’ve been zeroing in on the location of the Antichrist’s empire or coalition of nations he will lead. I hope you’ve been shocked by the amount of biblical evidence of this location, and we haven’t even scratched the surface.
I know, for many, the conclusion that the Antichrist empire will be a Middle Eastern location is new. The predominant view has been that his kingdom would be from Europe — a revived Roman Empire or the Roman Catholic Church. The evidence presented from Revelation 17 seems to shoot this view down. I understand because it was a view I held until a few years ago. Other popular views are a Russian-led Antichrist empire which hinges on the passages about him being from the north, as well as a globalist new world order of some sort.
So far, we’ve looked at how almost all Old Testament prophets prophesied of judgment coming to the neighbors of Israel at the end of the age, which likely means the final enemy would be these nations. Then we examined the smoking gun — Rev. 17:9-11 — which says the Antichrist’s kingdom would be the one to follow the Roman Empire. Next, we looked at how Joel, Daniel and Ezekiel all point to the Antichrist coming from the north.
If we were to lay out this evidence and graph the location based on those Scriptural coordinates, we’d first have the neighbors of Israel starred as possibilities — Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. From Joel, Daniel and Ezekiel we’d draw a line through the northern possibilities — Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Georgia and ultimately Russia. From the evidence so far, are we seeing some possibilities emerge? Do you see nations that are on both lists?
Before GPS satellites did our mapping, locating coordinates on a map required knowing the latitude as well as longitude. Latitude identifies the location north or south of the equator, while longitude is the east or west location. It’s as if Joel, Daniel and Ezekiel have given us the latitude. In this analogy, Micah and Isaiah give us the longitude.
Micah and Isaiah were contemporaries who prophesied during the Assyrian invasion. Like all the prophets, they talked about the then pending invasion but would also point to a similar ultimate fulfillment. The end times aspect of their prophecies can be recognized by identifying the Messianic and kingdom context. Amid that context, we find these parallel passages from those two prophets: “He will deliver us from the Assyrians when they invade our land and march across our borders” (Micah 5:6 NIV).
In this final portion of Micah 5:6, the Messianic context is present in the “He” is delivering. He is the Messiah. The rest of the context around the verse is also Messianic: “In that day the Lord will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria… In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River — the king of Assyria — to shave your head and private parts, and to cut off your beard also (Isa. 7:18-20 NIV).
These verses tell that the King of Assyria will be used to bring judgment on Israel and it’s in the context of one of the most popular prophecies of the Messiah — Isaiah 7:14, the virgin birth prophesy. Also, notice the use of “in that day” which points to the Day of the Lord at the end of the age. Isaiah is prophesying at the time of the Assyrian invasion, but the context of this passage points to an end of the age invasion from Assyria on Israel.
From Micah and Isaiah, the location of the Antichrist’s empire is identified as Assyria. Today Assyria isn’t found on a map, but the map above shows the boundaries of this former empire which covers the modern-day nations of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Turkey.
Do you see similar names pop up? Certainly!
Let’s now combine the latitude and longitude possibilities. Since the location is north of Zion, we can drop Egypt and Jordan. Since the northernmost coordinate is Turkey we can drop Armenia, Georgia and Russia from the latitude list. When these biblical coordinates are graphed, it leaves the modern-day options of Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran.
We’re narrowing the list down and will do even more through a further examination of Ezekiel and Daniel.
If you’ve read each article in this series, you’ve seen the smoking gun. But for sake of thoroughness, we’ll keep working through the evidence to find the location of the Antichrist’s empire.
Jake is available for revivals and preaching learn more at standfirmministries.com.
