The Location of the Antichrist's Empire (Part 5)

The evidence has been heard and it’s consistent. Shouldn’t that be what we expect from the Bible — consistency? From the Law, the Prophets, the Poets and the New Testament, the location of this final empire is the same. All Scriptural evidence points to modern-day Turkey and a revival of the former Ottoman Empire which was the Islamic Caliphate or Islamic State.

From descriptions of the Antichrist’s Empire being a neighbor of Israel, north of Israel, and from the former Assyrian Empire to Ezekiel pinpointing it as Magog to John the Apostle in Revelation writing it would be the empire to hold Jerusalem after Rome, all tell the same narrative and pinpoint the same location.

Surely, the jury would be satisfied with the ample evidence, but there’s still one other passage I’d like to enter into the argument.

Daniel chapter 8 may tell us the next prophetic event that will occur and reaffirms Turkey as the location of the capital of the Antichrist’s Empire. In this chapter, Daniel receives a vision of a goat and ram, then the angel Gabriel comes and interprets the dream for Daniel. The vision deals with two nations rising and going to war. One nation prevails and from it eventually comes the King that would war with the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace is the Messiah — Jesus. Therefore, the King to war with Him must be the Antichrist. There are also other clues within the passage that point to this King being the Antichrist. Clues like the ending of the sacrifice, him coming against the Beautiful Land (Israel), and this King’s rise matches the Antichrist’s rise from Daniel 7, Daniel 11 and Revelation 17.

Therefore, if this King is the Antichrist, then the location he comes from within the vision would identify the location of the Antichrist’s empire. In the vision, the Antichrist comes from the “Goat Kingdom” which is typically translated in English versions as Greece, but the original word is Javan. According to the passage, Javan is the location of the final empire.

“The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is the first king”(Dan. 8:20-21 NIV).

Notice the NIV translates Javan as Greece. All major English versions do this. The exceptions are the Literal Standard Version (LSV) and Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) which keep Javan.

“And the young male goat, the hairy one, is the king of Javan; and the great horn that is between its eyes is the first king” (Dan. 8:21 LSV).

The LSV and YLT keep the translation Javan because that matches the same method of interpretation as done in the previous verse. Media and Persia actually appear in the original Hebrew, while in Daniel 8:21 Javan appears in the Hebrew not the word Greece.

The argument made in commentaries is that Javan was the Hebrew word for Greece, but that’s not necessarily true. The word Javan was likely used to speak of peoples in western Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey to eastern Greece, even the Macedonian region. According to the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, Javan is linguistically associated with Ionia, a region in westernmost Asia Minor that was colonized by Greeks, so, by extension, Javan came to be applied to Greece itself.

It seems the original location for this name was western Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. John Calvin wrote, “By the word ‘Javan’ the Hebrews designate not only the Greeks but the Macedonians, and the whole of that tract which is divided by the Hellespont, from Asia Minor as far as Illyricum.”

The assumption that Daniel would intend on this being Alexander’s Empire is built on the passage being interpreted as purely historical. Yet, twice in the passage, Gabriel says that this will happen at a later time possibly signaling the end of the age. Regardless of that debate, this is one more passage pointing to modern-day Turkey as the location of the Antichrist’s Empire. The evidence seems conclusive.

The location of the Antichrist will be modern-day Turkey and there will be a revival of the Ottoman Empire. That’s good to know, but why did I spend five articles on the subject? I did so because it’s there in Scripture. The Lord guided His prophets and the Biblical writers to talk about this last empire in detail, therefore, we should take notice and be prepared.

If we’re watching for the fulfillment of these prophecies, then Turkey should be the focal point with the Middle Eastern Muslim world in tow. We should be watching for a renewed desire and surge of action to spread Islam and form an Islamic State. This surge would look much like the Arab Spring in 2011 and its current repercussions or maybe even more like the dream of Turkey’s President Erdogan to reinstate the Ottoman Empire in 2023.

Jake is available for revivals and preaching learn more at standfirmministries.com