I recently came across a site proving the beast comes from the east, namely Assyria. I thought you might be interested and perhaps able to confirm or disprove any of it. The author’s theory is based on several items. Here are a few:
1. Jesus said the antichrist would be of the people who destroy the temple. The destruction was done by the Roman empire; however, the battalion that performed the destruction was mainly comprised of Assyrians.
2. The Biblical references to the antichrist as “the Assyrian”
3. The author emphasizes the importance of the middle east as being the beast’s location. In Daniel’s dream of four beasts, he could describe the first three (lion-Babylon, bear-MedoPersia, leopard-Greece), but not the fourth. However, John could describe this beast in Revelation as having body parts of lion, bear and leopard. This indicates it is comprised of the areas of Babylon, MedoPersia, and Greece. The author points out that the metallic statue of Daniel 2 is destroyed all at once at Christ’s 2nd coming (Dan 2:35). When we look at the modern countries making up this region, we find 10, all Islamic.
4. The author follows the actions of the antichrist described in Daniel 11 to show how he could obtain his titles: King of Babylon, Pharaoh King of Egypt, etc.
I’ve long believed that there is as great a likelihood that the anti-Christ will come from the Eastern (Moslem) leg of the old Roman Empire as the Western (European) one. And the rise of Islam makes it even more likely in my opinion. But Daniel only gave a name to the first of the 4 Empires of his visions, Babylon. (The angel Gabriel named the 2nd and 3rd as Media-Persia and Greece in Daniel 7) In Daniel 2 the 4th Kingdom was identified as the one that would conquer the third, and it was Rome that did that. So of the four, two (Babylon and Persia) were eastern in their origins and 2 (Greece and Rome) were western. Remember Daniel said that the 5th Kingdom would be the Messiah’s so only four can precede it. All four have been historically identified.
In Rev. 13 John was looking back through history from his vantage point in the 4th Kingdom to see the previous 3, beginning with the most recent, the leopard (Greece) and working backward through the bear (Media-Persia) to the lion (Babylon). At the end of the age three specific characteristics of these Kingdoms will be represented in the anti-Christ and his kingdom. The speed of the leopard, the power of the bear, and the boastful roar of the lion. Saying that this represents the territory of the three former kingdoms is irrelevant because Rome occupied the territory of the three, but John used the word “resembled” to indicate similarity to characteristics of the three representative animals, not the geography of the kingdoms. The personal pronouns he used confirm this.
The Gentile Kingdom in power when John wrote was Rome in its legs of iron form. At the end of the age Rome will appear in its feet and toes form. Please note that the feet and toes appear at the bottom of both legs, so both the Eastern leg and the Western leg of Rome will be present. This is what makes the “Islamization” of western Europe so interesting.
As I wrote in a recent article, it doesn’t matter who the foot soldiers were in the destruction of the Temple, they were wearing Roman uniforms, serving under Roman command, exercising Roman authority. Besides the destruction of the sanctuary and the city occurred nearly 70 years apart, and both by Roman armies under orders from Rome. I also believe that the references to the Assyrian are meant to be seen as plural, the descendants of Asshur, not singular, as one Assyrian man.
I’m simply not persuaded that the anti-Christ has to be a Assyrian national.