Revelation 16:19

A result of this unprecedented earthquake is the splitting of the great city into three parts. The "great city" could refer to Jerusalem (Revelation 11:8). Some believe it refers to Rome. [Note: Mounce, p. 304.] Still others identify it with Babylon on the Euphrates (Revelation 14:8; Revelation 17:18; Revelation 18:10; Revelation 18:21), to which this verse refers explicitly later. [Note: Ladd, p. 218.] Probably Jerusalem is in view. [Note: Moffatt, 5:449; Smith, A Revelation . . ., p. 237; Ford, p. 264; idem, "The Structure and Meaning of Revelation 16," Expository Times 98:11 (August 1987):327-31.] It contrasts with the cities of the nations, and the phrase "the great" described it before (Revelation 11:8). Zechariah’s prophecy of topographical changes taking place around Jerusalem at this time argues for a geophysical rather that an ethnographic change (Zechariah 14:4). [Note: Lee, 4:727, believed this would be a division into three groups of people.]

Evidently the earthquake will destroy virtually all the cities of the world. Babylon on the Euphrates is the most significant of these cities (Revelation 14:8). It is the special object of God’s judgment, which the cup of wine that she receives symbolizes. Chapters 17 and 18 describe the fall of Babylon in more detail.

"The fall of Babylon is the central teaching of the seventh bowl. It is an event already announced in Revelation 14:8 and prefigured in the harvest and vintage of Revelation 14:14-20. . . . Stages in Babylon’s downfall come in Revelation 17:16 and Revelation 18:8 . . ., but her ultimate collapse is in Revelation 19:18-21" [Note: Thomas, Revelation 8-22, p. 276.]

The government of Iraq under Saddam Hussein was trying to rebuild Babylon. [Note: Charles H. Dyer, The Rise of Babylon, pp. 26-32.] Literal interpreters have differed on the question of whether someone will rebuild the whole city completely or not. Some believe Iraq will rebuild Babylon mainly in view of what the prophets predicted would happen to Babylon in Isaiah 13, 14, and in Jeremiah 50, 51. They say this has not yet taken place. [Note: E.g., Kenneth Allen, "The Rebuilding and Destruction of Babylon," Bibliotheca Sacra 133:529 (January-March 1976):19-27; Charles H. Dyer, "The Identity of Babylon in Revelation 17-18," Bibliotheca Sacra 144:576 (October-December 1987):440-49; Newell, pp. 253, 265, 268; Henry M. Morris, The Revelation Record, pp. 348-49; Thomas, Revelation 8-22, pp. 290, 307; and McGee, 5:1036. Cf. 18:2; Zechariah 5.] Others hold that Scripture does not require the rebuilding of Babylon since they believe God has fulfilled these prophecies. [Note: E.g., C. I. Scofield, ed., The Scofield Reference Bible, 1917 ed., pp. 1346-47; Pentecost, Things to . . ., pp. 368-69; and Homer Heater Jr., "Do the Prophets Teach that Babylonia Will Be Rebuilt in the Eschaton?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41:1 (March 1998):23-43.] It seems to me that a literal city is in view in Revelation but that what the city has stood for throughout human history is also in view.