The Unholy Trinity Revisited

A central event under the seventh plague is the fall of “great Babylon.” We learned about mystical Babylon in the second angel’s message (Revelation 14:8). In today’s verse, her greatness is emphasized, as well as this fascinating detail: She is “divided into three parts.” How interesting that only several verses ago, we learned of three entities—the dragon, or Satan working through paganism; the beast, or the Roman Catholic papacy; and the false prophet, or apostate Protestantism—cohering under the sixth plague (16:13, 14).

Could it be that these same united forces are the same tripartite syndicate that falls apart in today’s verse? Yes, indeed, they are. The Bible reveals that this unholy trinity actually is end-time Babylon. Remember, Babylon has become a symbol for the sum total of unfaithful churches, the ultimate conglomerate of religious confusion. Thus, Babylon is the exact definition of the joint venture of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet.

Not only do these counterfeit churches fall, but the state, “the cities of the nations,” falls too. The secular and so-called sacred powers of the world collapse. The devil’s universal religiopolitical entity is seen for what it is: a counterfeit. Thus, we see that all the deception, all the miracles, all the effort the unholy trinity make in order to gather the world against God and His people ultimately fail.

And “great Babylon was remembered before God.” This is not to say that God ever lost track of Babylon and her sins. This is a turn of phrase that refers to the execution of Babylon’s sentence of judgment. (See Ezekiel 21:23, 24.) When God remembers Babylon, He executes judgment upon her by giving “her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath,” just as the third angel prophesied in Revelation 14:10.

This is God’s response to those who persecute His people. Though the entire world will be against those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, God will protect and deliver.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your promise of salvation, that blessed assurance that we can cling onto in times that seem hopeless.

For further study: Psalm 91; Isaiah 51:17; Habakkuk 3:3–16

Key Bible Texts

And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. (Revelation 16:19 KJV)