The Extent Of Antichrist's Kingdom

By John Wiertzema

A few months back a fellow minister sent me an email berating me over my opposition to the long-held view that the Antichrist will rule over the entire world. Then, the other day this same minister, who has a weekly television program teaching Bible prophecy, used precious air time endeavouring to dismantle my position, stating it was “a classic case of reading into the news to interpret the Bible.”

That’s amusing, since it seems there’s no shortage of preachers anxiously lined up to indulge themselves in pretentious displays over the “globalist agenda.” If anyone is reading into the news it’s those who believe the Antichrist will assume global governance based on geopolitical trends, in lieu of a diligent study of scripture.

I wanted to let you in on this debate so you can see for yourself what the fuss is all about. It’s mostly over the following verses. Revelation 13:7-8 and 16-17 says,

7 And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life . . .

16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark

In regards to these verses, the guest being interviewed on the same show argued that they absolutely have to be taken literal to the fullest extent. To use a comparison he recalled that all the prophecies surrounding the first coming of Christ were literally fulfilled, therefore, the same literal treatment should automatically be administered to these end-time verses without equivocation.

Um . . . maybe someone should tell him that if that line of reasoning were universal in interpreting Bible prophecy, the prophet Daniel would have missed it on several occasions. Concerning Nebuchadnezzar Daniel prophesied,

“Wheresoever the children of men dwell . . . hath made thee ruler over them ALL.” (Daniel 2:38)

In describing the extent of the Grecian Empire Daniel prophesied,

“which shall bear rule over ALL the earth” (Daniel 2:39)

Or how about the Romans? Did Daniel miss it there also when he prophesied they,

“shall devour the WHOLE EARTH” (Daniel 7:23-24)

Maybe my minister friends forgot that these verses were also prophesies of the future as the verses in Revelation 13 are to us today. And everyone knows these former empires didn’t actually conquer the entire world. Rome coexisted with the Han dynasty for some four hundred years, and that pesky Parthian Empire never seemed to care much about being bossed around by those big, bad Roman soldiers.

So then, was Daniel a false prophet? I guess, according to some people’s insistence, he would be? Or could it be that Daniel was right, and maybe he just used a synecdoche, a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part? Oh, by the way, since we are discussing word meanings, for some reason they felt at liberty to change the word that I used, “synecdoche” to “hyperbole” which means an insistence of exaggerating. But who’s watching?

If “all” didn’t literally mean “all” in the case of former kingdoms, why insist it literally means “all” for the Antichrist’s kingdom? After all, we are comparing apples to apples (kingdoms to kingdom), unlike the comparison of the specific prophecy of the Antichrist’s kingdoms to unrelated prophecies of Jesus’ first advent.

I actually do believe the Antichrist will control all nations . . . that is, all of those within the extent of his limited kingdom. Most prophecy teachers would agree that he only controls ten nations at mid-point of the last seven years. (And those ten will all be nations within the boundaries of the old Babylonian, Grecian, and Medo-Persian Empires according to Rev.13:2 and Daniel 7:5, which they also tried to refute. I’ll deal with that one another time) So, does anyone really believe he will conquer the entire rest of the world in less than three and a half years, when the Bible says he will meet fierce opposition from rival nations all throughout that same time frame?

Oh, and did I forget to mention a few other related proofs of a limited Antichrist kingdom?

1. The nation of Israel will not completely fall to the Antichrist. In his final attempt to take over Jerusalem during the Battle of Armageddon Jesus returns to stop it from happening. Zech.14:2 says only half of the city will go into captivity.

2. In Daniel 11:41 it says that the Antichrist will enter into the holy land (Israel) but Edom, Moab, and Ammon (Jordan) shall escape out of his hand. If he can’t even conquer countries right next door to him, it would take a huge stretch of the imagination to think he could do anything about Canada for example.

3. In Daniel 11:44-45 it states that countries to the north and east of him will make war against him. This proves that those countries will not be under his immediate control.

4. In Rev 16:13-16 it says that three unclean spirits like frogs go forth from him to try to deceive and persuade other nations to cooperate with him in the Battle of Armageddon. This takes place near the end of the seven year period we call Daniels’ 70th week, and would not be necessary if those nations were already under his direct control.

5. Concerning the 7 vial judgments of Rev. 16 which are poured out upon the “seat of the beast,” it is evident that vials 1,2,3,5 and 6 affect the specific areas of the Mediterranean Sea, the Euphrates River located in Iraq, and the surround territories only. If the Antichrist’s kingdom spanned the whole world these judgment would need to be world wide as well.

6. In Rev.12:14 the remnant of Israel escapes into the wilderness and are supernaturally protected from the control of the Antichrist for the last 3 1/2 years of the tribulation.

7. In Matt.25:31-46 there are many sheep nations that are called the blessed of my father. The goat nations on the other hand will be judged because of their involvement with the Antichrist when he comes against Israel at the Battle of Armageddon. The very fact that there are many sheep nations at that judgment proves that many nations will not fall to or follow after the Antichrist.

The only kingdom I see in the Bible ruling over all of the nations of the world is the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus . . . our King. But maybe that’s just me!

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