The Location of the Antichrist’s Empire – Part 1

Bible Prophecy

I think I’ve shared my reluctancy to be a “prophecy teacher”. I cringe when introduced at events as such because I just want to be a pastor seeking to rightly divide the whole counsel of God. Prophecy is a third of the Bible so we can’t avoid it and in these crazy times we live in, we need to look to Scripture, especially prophecy, to navigate them. What amazes me within the study of Bible prophecy is how much can be known. The title of this article seems to warn that I will be speculating with a best guesstimate on the location of the Antichrist’s empire—I’m not. I encourage you to read on and see what can be known about what lies ahead especially the location of the Antichrist’s empire.

End time prophecy doesn’t start in the Olivet Discourse or The Book of Revelation, the foundation is the Old Testament and especially the prophets. Most prophetic literature in the New Testament is quotes and allusions to the Old Testament prophets.

The Nations in Bible Prophecy

When we read through the Old Testament prophets we encounter much about geopolitics. Many nations are mentioned—almost all of which being Israel and her neighbors. The temptation is to assume that was the only world the Biblical writers knew therefore that’s why those nations were mentioned. Their limited geographical knowledge was their reason for describing the end of the age as a showdown with Israel and those neighbors.

Before we make that assumption, we should first give the Holy Spirit more geographical credit. What if we assumed centerstage for the end of the age events actually was the Middle East and that the neighbors of Israel are the intended nations to be judged at the end of the age? If we start with that in mind, does it lay a foundation for end time geopolitics? What if God specified those locations on purpose? I believe He did. We also do see the mention of other nations in the prophets. Though mentioned these non-middle eastern places are peripheral in the last day events.

Daniel mentions the western nation of Kittim. Ezekiel mentions Tarshish—which Jonah proves is far west! Ezekiel talks about the foreign coastlands. In the Book of Revelation we see the mention of the kings of the east. There doesn’t seem to be geographical deficiencies, but pinpointed locations.

The Lynchpin Prophecy

With this foundation in mind let’s jump to the passage I believe to be the lynchpin to knowing the identity of this final empire. Before looking at Revelation 17, let’s go to Daniel 2. In Daniel 2, we read of Daniel interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. In the interpretation, Daniel tells the King that the statue with its five divisions represents a succession of empires that would rule over the land of Babylon. The statue serves as timeline of sorts running from King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign to the reign of the Messiah.

In the book of Daniel, we see the identities of the first three empires. First, in Daniel 2, we’re told the head of gold represents the Babylonian Empire. In Daniel 8, we see that the chest and arms of silver represents the Mede and Persian empire. In that same chapter, we see the belly and thighs of bronze points to the Grecian empire of Alexander the Great. Unfortunately, we’re not give the fourth empire that is pictured by the legs of iron. We’re not given the fifth either, but it is expressed to be a revival of the fourth. The fourth has been divided up and reassembled—revived. Most have assumed this fourth and revival of it is the Roman Empire, but there’s not any Biblically support for that.

In a parallel vision in Daniel 7, we’re shown that the final empire of the succession will be the one of the Antichrist—the Little Horn.

Though Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 fails to identify the final empire’s location, we do learn that it will be a revival of the fourth.

Another parallel vision from Daniel 2 appears in Revelation 17. There’s a lot going on in the passage, but in Revelation 17:10-11 we get the greatest clue into the location of this final kingdom.

They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. – Revelation 17:10-11

This passage is much like the statue in Daniel 2. It lays out a succession of empires stretching throughout history until the end of the age. King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue had the common denominator of the land of Babylon while the passage seems to be a succession of foreign gentile nations that would rule over Jerusalem, but just like Daniel 2 this passage shows that the final kingdom will be a revival of the previous one.

The Revived Ottoman Empire

John the apostle is told that there will be eight kingdoms. The eight would be a revival of the seventh. He’s told that at his lifetime five of these empires had come and gone. One of the seven was currently in existence. During John’s life the Roman empire’s flag flew over Jerusalem. He’s then told one more kingdom is to come, it will rule for a while, go away, and come back.

Do you see why this passage is the key?

If we know the kingdom that would follow the one ruling over Jerusalem in the time of John, then we could know the empire of the Antichrist.

And we do.

For after the Roman empire it was the Ottoman Empire or Islamic Caliphate ruled from modern day Turkey over Jerusalem.

This Islamic State would rule from 1453 until it was dissolved following World War I. At that time, it was divided up into many different nations—resulting in the Middle East today.

Revelation 17:10-11 isn’t the only evidence of the Antichrist’s empire possibly being a revived Ottoman Empire, but it may be the clearest.

This article first appeared in Jake’s syndicated column Stand Firm & Live Epic as published in The Baptist Trumpet and other publications. After three months the articles are adapted and published here. To read the articles at release subscribe here.

Jake McCandless

Executive Director of Stand Firm and lead pastor of Epic Church NWA in Springdale, AR and multiple award-winning author, Jake has a B.A. in Bible and Pastoral Studies from Central Baptist College, and an Advanced Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Former regular contributor to the Baptist Press and WND News with popular conservative voices such as Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Ben Carson, Chuck Norris, Greg Laurie, Ben Schapiro, Joel Richardson, and others. He now is a weekly contributor for Israel, Islam, and the End Times and Armageddon News. He has authored books such as the, award-winning Spiritual Prepper from WND Books. Award-winning devotional books, Invincibleand For Uncertain Times, he authored the ground-breaking children’s book, Jesus and His White Horse from CrossLink Publishing. He is also a regular guest on national and international radio and streaming web shows, along with hosting his weekly live streaming program Talking Stand Firm and weekly podcast Stand Firm Parents.