CLUES TO THE IDENTITY OF ANTICHRIST

In Revelation 1:19, the Lord told the Apostle John, "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter."  Students of the Book of Revelation have, for the most part, agreed in their interpretation of this verse.  Jesus was telling John to write about the things he had seen, about the things which currently existed (Ch. 2-3), and those things which would occur in the future (Ch. 4-22). 

There is some irony in John being told to write about the things he had seen in the past.  There stood Jesus in all His glory (Rev. 1:13-16), and while John had seen this before, he had not recorded it in his Gospel!  There were three disciples on the "Mount of Transfiguration," but none of them gave us a description of the Lord's appearance!  Only Peter wrote of what he had experienced with James and John, but he did not describe Jesus' appearance (2 Pet. 1:17-18). The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all record the event (Mt. 17:1-9; Mk. 9:2-10; Lk. 9:21-27), but none of them were there!  Here, Jesus was telling the one disciple who focused upon His deity, to describe Him to future readers!

At the time of John's vision, there were hundreds of churches throughout the Roman Empire and beyond, but the Lord wanted John (and us) to focus upon just seven churches, which existed in what is modern day Turkey.  There is absolutely no doubt that these seven, while in close proximity with one another, were each unique.  Two were praised, and received no rebuke from the Lord (Smyrna, the persecuted church - Rev. 2:8-11 - Philadelphia, known for its love of the brethren - 3:7-13).  The other five (Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea) were all rebuked of the Lord for failing to operate in accordance to His will.  In fact, the last church, Laodicea, was described as operating with Christ standing on the outside knocking to get in!  

While there have been many articles written on the seven churches representing seven periods of Church History, I want to focus upon something else.  In Revelation 2:9, Satan is said to be in control of a local Synagogue.  And in Pergamos, the church has to deal with Satan's "headquarters" (Rev. 2:13)!  I wonder if this could be a clue telling us from where the Antichrist will come?  We know he will be from within the area of the Roman Empire (Dan. 9:26), but he will also be known as the Assyrian (Isa. 10:24; Ezek. 31:3), a man of peace (Mic. 5:5), and having a mortal wound (Hos. 5:13).  In addition, the Seleucid division of the Greek Empire, ruled there as well, and it was Antiochus Epiphanes, a type of the Antichrist, who committed the Abomination of Desolation when he was governor (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11; etc.)!

Turkey is a Muslim nation; what was Assyria is Muslim today.

That is why I believe el Hassan bin Talal will be the Antichrist.