For many decades, popular Christian prophecy teaching—especially in the United States and Europe—has assumed that the Antichrist will arise from a revived Western Roman Empire. From bestselling prophecy novels to theological charts and end-times conferences, the idea of a European Antichrist has shaped much of modern evangelical imagination. But in recent years, a growing number of scholars and teachers have challenged that assumption. Among the most influential voices is author and researcher Joel Richardson, who argues that the Antichrist’s empire will not originate in the West at all, but rather from the Islamic world of the Middle East.
Richardson's thesis is not merely speculative or rooted in geopolitical trends. He contends that Scripture itself consistently points to the Middle East as the geographic center of end-times events, the location of the Antichrist’s political base, and the region from which the final global leader will emerge. According to Richardson, Bible students have often read prophecy through the lens of Western history and culture, overlooking the Bible’s own geographical focus—Israel and its surrounding nations. By returning to this biblical perspective, he argues, the prophetic landscape becomes clearer, and many longstanding puzzles begin to make sense.
A Biblical Story Centered on the Middle East
One of Richardson’s foundational points is deceptively simple: the Bible is a Middle Eastern book. Its narratives unfold in the ancient Near East, its prophets address nations surrounding Israel, and its climactic events occur in Jerusalem. From Genesis to Revelation, the drama of redemption is centered not on Europe or the modern West, but on Israel and its immediate neighbors—Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Edom, Moab, and others. The prophets did not speak of the future in terms of Rome or Germany or the United States; instead, they addressed the peoples that directly interacted with, threatened, or oppressed Israel.
This geographical focus carries into biblical prophecy. When the prophets describe the nations that will rise up against God’s people in the last days, they repeatedly name regions we would associate today with the Middle East, North Africa, and the broader Islamic world. Ezekiel 38–39, Psalm 83, Daniel 11, and Isaiah 10 all contain references to territories historically located in what is now Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, and other nations surrounding Israel. These passages do not describe a future coalition led by a distant Western power but a confederation of Israel’s ancient antagonists—nations that share borders, history, and in many cases, Islamic identity.
The Islamic Antichrist Theory
Richardson is best known for popularizing what has come to be called the “Islamic Antichrist” paradigm. This view proposes that the future Antichrist will arise from within an Islamic context, leading a Middle Eastern coalition that resembles the historical enemies of Israel described by the prophets.
One of the key pieces of evidence for this interpretation is found in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, which describe a succession of empires culminating in a final kingdom that opposes God. Traditionally, many interpreters have understood this final kingdom as a revived Roman Empire. Richardson, however, argues that this reading ignores both history and geography. The Roman Empire had two halves: a Western portion centered in Rome and an Eastern portion centered in Constantinople. The Eastern half—which included modern Turkey, Syria, Egypt, and much of the Middle East—outlasted the Western half by nearly a thousand years.
According to Richardson, when Daniel describes the final empire as an extension of the earlier empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece—the geographical through-line points overwhelmingly toward the Middle East, not Europe. All three of these earlier empires ruled the same slice of territory surrounding Israel, whereas only one smaller portion of them ever ruled Western Europe. Thus, the “revived empire” indicated in prophecy is best understood not as a Western political union but as a resurgence of power in the Middle Eastern regions that historically oppressed Israel.
The “Assyrian” and “King of the North” Prophecies
Richardson also draws attention to biblical titles applied to the Antichrist—in particular, the repeated reference to a future tyrant known as “the Assyrian.” In passages such as Isaiah 10, Micah 5, and elsewhere, the prophets describe a figure who will invade Israel in the last days and whom God will ultimately destroy. Richardson argues that the New Testament applies this figure’s characteristics to the Antichrist, making “the Assyrian” a prophetic prototype of the final enemy.
If this is true, then the Antichrist’s origin must be connected to the ancient region of Assyria—territory corresponding today to northern Iraq, northern Syria, and southeastern Turkey.
Daniel 11 adds more detail by speaking of a “King of the North” who will invade Israel in the last days. Historically, the “north” in biblical prophecy almost always refers to the regions of Syria and Turkey. This further reinforces the idea that the Antichrist’s geopolitical center is located in the Middle East, not in Europe or the West.
The Significance of Islam in End-Times Prophecy
Richardson does not argue that Islam itself is the Antichrist, nor does he demonize the Muslim world. His argument is theological, not sociological: the features associated with the Antichrist in Scripture—denying the Father and the Son, persecuting Jews and Christians, enforcing religious conformity, seeking world domination—parallel features associated with apocalyptic strains of Islamic eschatology. In many Islamic traditions, a figure known as the Mahdi will arise to establish global Islamic rule, conquer Israel, and institute religious law across the earth. For Richardson, the striking similarities between the Islamic Mahdi and the biblical Antichrist provide further evidence that the final conflict described in Scripture will involve an Islamic-dominated empire from the Middle East.
Why Many Christians Still Expect a Western Antichrist
If the biblical case for a Middle Eastern Antichrist is so strong, why do so many Christians continue to expect a European or Western figure? Richardson suggests several reasons. First, much modern prophecy interpretation grew out of a Western context, especially during periods when Europe was seen as the center of world power. Second, the influence of the Roman Empire on Western civilization made it easy for interpreters to read prophecy through a Roman lens, even when the biblical text itself did not emphasize Rome. Third, cultural familiarity plays a role: Western Christians often imagine end-times events unfolding in the cultures they know best.
But a growing number of scholars argue that this Eurocentric lens has obscured the Bible’s own map. When the focus is shifted back to the regions surrounding Israel—as the biblical authors intended—the picture becomes much more consistent: the final empire arises in the Middle East.
Conclusion: Returning to the Bible’s Geography
Joel Richardson’s argument is not merely a modern reaction to geopolitical events; it is an attempt to return to the geographical and cultural center of the biblical story. By grounding interpretation in the Bible’s own landscape—Israel and its surrounding nations—Richardson presents a compelling case that the Antichrist’s empire will begin not in the West, but in the Middle East. Whether one agrees with every detail of his view, the call to read prophecy through a biblical, rather than Western, lens has opened fruitful and necessary conversations in the church.
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