In Daniel 8, as I see it, the main character is the prophetic figure called the "little horn." This person is Greek, his kingdom in Asia arising out of Alexander's (the shaggy goat) conquest of the Medo/Persian empire (the ram). We are told his expansion is toward the the south (Israel) and east (Iraq). Technically, the figure presages Antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid ruler of Syria (whose domains included large portions of Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq) in the time of the Maccabees; however, he in turn is used as a type of the Antichrist in Daniel 11:21-35. Seamlessly, Antiochus' description morphs into the Antichrist's at verse 36, which in turn is carried through to the end of Daniel 12. So, in understanding the rise and fall of the Antichrist, it is the type of the King of the North that is most descriptive of domain and action.
However, his kingdom is Roman too, as can be determined from Daniel 7. There, the little horn is seen arising from ten others in the fourth kingdom (the third was Greek, see above, the fourth was Roman). The Revelation says that those ten kings arise in the day of the Antichrist for the sole purpose of turning power over to him; however, it also says that the ten horned beast was not in existence at the time of John. It once was and would be again, but it wasn't in 95 AD when John was exiled on Patmos by the Roman empire and he received the Revelation! What this tells me is that the domain of the Antichrist is located physically in the area controlled by both Alexander and the Romans (the Seleucid Kingdom fits that bill very well), and located in time after the Roman empire.
We also learn from Daniel 7:8 that his rise to power comes at the expense of three of the ten kingdoms making up his empire. Antiochus Epiphanes arose in what is today Turkey (Antakya/Samandag), but was then known as Syria (Antioch/Seleucia). John locates the throne of Satan, the sponsor and inspiration of the Antichrist, in Pergamum (now Bergama, Turkey). Given these facts, and considering that the Kingdom of the North is the revived kingdom of the Antichrist, my opinion is that Turkey will be the nation of origin for the Antichrist. If history is the key to the future, that would make Syria and Iraq the prime candidates for the other two ripped out horns.
I'll talk about the rest of the horns, and the rest of the rest with my next post.
Index to the Entire Series
I, II, III, IV, V
