<p>16:19<em> And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His anger</em>- The allusion is to the earthquake of Zech. 14 at the point of the Lord's return. This makes the great city Jerusalem, and yet the great city is mystical &quot;Babylon&quot; in 17:18. The fall of Jerusalem in AD70 was but a small fulfilment of what is envisaged here; although we note that Jerusalem at that time was divided into three opposing camps by internal strife- John, Simon and Elazar (<em>Wars</em> 5.1.1,4). The division of the Jews and Jerusalem in particular into three parts for judgment is all Old Testament language (Ez. 5:2,12; Zech. 13:8,9). We are thereby encouraged to see Jerusalem as the great city which is judged. And yet it is paralleled with the fall of Babylon. The latter day Babylon entity will have made Jerusalem its capital, and this shall fall. This earthquake is that of 11:13, where after the tribulation of the believers and Jews in the land for three and a half years, &quot;the tenth part of the city fell&quot; and clearly the city in view is Jerusalem, the &quot;great city... where also our Lord was crucified&quot; (11:8). Perhaps the tenth part of the city destroyed by the earthquake refers to the encampment of &quot;Babylon&quot;, perhaps a mosque complex built on the temple mount. For the abomination which will bring about the desolation of the temple mount will be placed there (Dan. 12:11; Mt. 24:15), and this surely refers to something like a mosque complex or other visual symbol of jihadist Islam. The language of Babylon and the whore has some first century application to the Judaist 'satan' which was enthroned in Jerusalem until AD70, and the language used in chapters 17 and 18 is often allusive to Old Testament prophecies about Israel as the whore. In the latter day application to the &quot;Babylon&quot; entity, this all still is appropriate, in that &quot;Babylon&quot; will make her throne on the temple mount, in Jerusalem.</p><p>Perhaps the three parts refers to how three different subdivisions of the beast entity are enthroned in Jerusalem; for the call to come and fight there comes forth from three different entities, each with essentially the same message (:13).</p><p>The subdivision of the final invader into three groups will recall the original Assyrian battle plan whereby the Assyrian army was split up under three leaders, Tartan, Rabsaris and Rabshakeh. Previous invasions had this feature too:<br />-&nbsp; &quot;The spoilers of the Philistines / Palestinians (raided Israel) in three companies&quot; (1 Sam. 13:17).<br />-&nbsp; The Israelites fought their Ammonite enemies &quot;in three companies&quot;, perhaps because there were three groups of Ammonites (1 Sam. 11:11).<br />-&nbsp; The account of Gideon's victory over Midian, a clear type of the latter-day invaders, has a triple emphasis on Israel attacking them in &ldquo;three companies&quot; (Jud. 7:16,20,22) - perhaps for the same reason.<br />-&nbsp; The Chaldeans (Babylonians/Assyrians) attacked Job, symbolic of faithless Israel,&nbsp;in&nbsp;three bands (Job 1:17).&nbsp;The book of Job has many other links with the Assyrian invasion.&nbsp; <br />&nbsp;</p>