The prophetic situation in Iraq and the antichrist
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attack on Iraq has brought into focus some of the most prophetic events in recent history, and according to one prophecy scholar, the events could lead to the rise of the antichrist. The largely Sunni caliphate-building organization backed by al Qaeda is moving to takeover the Shiite dominated government in Baghdad. The United States, whose historic policy has been to not negotiate with terrorist sponsoring states, indicated it will consider working with Iran in a military response to ISIS. Both US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani have indicated they may work together to bring stability to Iraq.
Kerry told Yahoo News’ Katie Couric, “We’re open to discussions. I think we might be open to any constructive process that could minimize the violence, hold Iraq together, the integrity of the country, and eliminate the presence of outside terrorist forces.” Rouhani said, “Whenever the United States makes a move on the ISIS, then we can think about cooperation with them in Iraq.” Meantime, Turkey’s government held an emergency meeting to discuss ISIS’s mass taking of hostages at the Turkish consulate in Mosul, Iraq. The UK Telegraph reports Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey would “retaliate in the strongest way” if the hostages are harmed. He said, “No one should test Turkey’s resolve. These events could launch an extraordinary and significant prophetic season.
While most prophecy watchers are keying these events from an Ezekiel 38-39 perspective, prophecy scholar and author Joel Richardson points to the book of Daniel. In a WorldNetDaily article, Richardson focuses on the Daniel Chapter 8:3-19 discussion of the “little horn, which waxed exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land (v. 9).” It also waxed great “even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them (v.10).” The historical interpretation is that these verses speak of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, fulfilling prophecy in part historically and representing a future event such as the antichrist/beast of Revelation.
Richardson says, however, that Antiochus did not cause any heavenly events and that the angel Gabriel tells Daniel that the vision was for “at the time of the end.” He writes: “When we actually read the explanation of Gabriel, the truth is that he does not make any such break in the vision, placing some of it in history and some of it the future. He simply says that the vision pertains to the time of the end.” Richardson writes that there could be two regional wars–the first, Iran “butting” to the west, the north and south–Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, possibly as far as Israel–the second, a counter offensive by Turkey. Richardson writes: “…it appears as though out of the ashes of these wars, in the region stretching from Nineveh (Mosul) to Turkey, we should expect to see the Antichrist arise.” While not definite, it is certainly, something to consider.
