The Assyrian Connection
by Phillip Goodman
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This is the book that set Prophecy Watch apart as an original research ministry in Bible prophecy—well received reviews in a paper delivered by the author to The Tim LaHaye Pre-Trib Study Group.
What are the roots of the Antichrist? The answer lies in a careful search of the scriptures, with great respect given to the plain, straightforward understanding of God’s Word. The Bible tells us the Antichrist will arise from within a new Europe/Mid-East political union, specifically, in the eastern sector of that restored Roman Empire—more specifically from the region of a long-dead empire within the realm of modern Syria-Iraq. Follow the Biblical clues which converge on the astonishing specter of the coming Beast.
THE ASSYRIAN CONNECTION
by Phillip Goodman
- The specific identity of the Beast lies in the identity of the “slain” Head.
- Though 6 of the 7 Heads of the Beast live, the Beast does not live until the “slain” Head comes to life.
- The 7 heads are 7 Mountain-Kings, that is, 7 Empires.
- Among the 4 Kingdoms of Dan 2, the “king” of Babylon is also the “kingdom” of Babylon (2:38, 39), which is also a “mountain” (Je 51:25), & Greece has 4 “heads” (7:6) which are also 4 Grecian “kingdoms” (8:22), & all of these are superceded by the “kingdom” of Christ (2:44) which is also a great “mountain” (2:35).
- Before Satan gives his accumulated worldly Empires to the Beast, these same “7 heads” are seen under his control with crowns on them (Rev 12:3)—signifying Satan’s temporary kingship over kingdoms (Mat 4:8-10; Jn 12:31).
- Daniel 7 shows 4 Beast Empires with a total of 7 Heads. Revelation 13 shows the same 4 Beast Empires joined together into a single composite Beast Empire, but with the same 7 Heads. Since the 7 Heads of Daniel 7 are Empire-Heads, so too must the 7 Heads of Revelation 13 be Empire-Heads.
- The 7 Empires are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome I and the Ottoman Empire.
- Of the kingdoms impacting Israel’s history and prophetic future, all are comparative molehills alongside the 7 “mountain-size” kingdoms—or Empires—which dominated the world of their times.
- Chronologically, one of the Empires has a double existence because the Beast comes as an 8th Empire—yet there are only 7!
- The Beast has only 7 heads—not 8 (Rev 13:1 & Rev 17:3,7,9,11).
- Head 8, then, is one of the 7—just as Rev 17:11 says.
- Therefore, one of the heads—or Empires—has a double existence!
- There are 3 chronological periods in Revelation 17 that are framed around John’s time (the time of Rome) and outline a chronological order of existence for both the 7 Empires and for the Beast & his Empire.
- Jesus Christ sets a precedent in Rev 1:19 for a past, present, and future chronological system in Revelation.
- This system is confirmed—with John himself as the reference point—by the Rev 17:12 statement that, from John’s perspective, the 10 Kings are still future.
- Revelation 17:8-11 places the time of both the Beast and the 7 Empires within this timeframe.
- The Beast comes from the “Was” period—or the “East” sector of Rome (all of the “Was” Empires were from the east).
- Is there anything that would prevent the Beast from coming from the East since he must be a Roman (Dan 9:26)?
- The “east” sectors of Rome are still Rome just as Dan 8:22 says the “east” sectors of Greece are still Greece.
- The 10 Kings are already a complete Revived Roman Empire (Rev 17:17) before the 11th King-Beast arrives (Da 7:24, “after them”). Revived Rome already exists before the Beast.
- The Beast comes from a slain and resurrected Empire.
- One of the Beast’s heads is slain and revived in Rev. 13.3.
- Since the 7 heads are identified in Rev 17 as 7 Empires, one of the Beast’s Empires has been “slain” & “resurrected.”
- If the “head” that was slain had been one of the 4 heads on the Dan 7 “leopard,” it would have been one of the Grecian kingdoms that was “slain.”
- The Beast is Empire #8, but there are only 7, meaning one Empire has a double existence, having been “slain” & “resurrected.”
- The only slain/resurrected Empire is Assyria.
- The other Empires have an “extended life” after they lose their dominion (Dan 7:12; cmp Dan 2:35).
- History bears out that Assyria disappeared without a trace from history while the other kingdoms shrank back, but lived on.
- The land of the extinct Empire of “Assyria” became “Syria,” and was the land of the ‘proto-antichrist,’ Antiochus IV, from whose land & legacy will stem the final Antichrist.
- Both the Assyrian namesake & the Assyrian political realm became Syria.
- In both Dan 8 & 11 the Syrian Antiochus merges almost imperceptibly into the final antichrist.
- Syria (Assyria) reappears in the “latter time of their rule” to produce the Antichrist (Dan 8:23).
- The Beast is “like” Greece in Rev 13:2, whose Syrian sector was dominant among the 4 Grecian “heads.”
- The “Prince of Assyria” of Daniel 10 ascends out of the Pit and gives the Beast-Empire a double existence, and gives the Beast-Person a double personage….MORE IN THE BOOK…
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