Depends on what holy means; Holy probably has a different meaning to holy, the capital H making the difference; sometimes Holy can mean extreme reverence, other times it can mean sanctified.
Babylon is set apart as a type for evil, it is the abode of the Beasts of Daniel and Revelation; I recently notice when reading Daniel 7, associated with Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon, The first beast a LION with eagle wings; the lion and EAGLE are two of the banner symbols, representing six of the twelve tribes; Then this beast is made look like a MAN, a third symbol representing 3 tribes; last this beast is given a human mind; doesn't this sound like the image of the beast in Revelation? What happened to the three tribes that camped behind the banner bearing the image of the Ox?
Though Babylon the Mother of Harlots is set forth as evil in
Revelation, the beast upon which she rides is also evil.
So we have TWO evil entitites.
And though one evil entity rides around on the other evil entity, the two are eventually opposed to each other.
If they are not in opposition then there would be no attacking of the first evil entity Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, BY the second entity, the beast upon which she rides.
Here we see clearly this enmity and attack. [my emphasis]
"And the ten horns which you saw and the beast, THESE WILL HATE THE HARLOT and will make her desolate and naked and will eat her flesh and burn her utterly with fire." (Rev. 17:16)
Obviously then, there is no love affair of the Beast with the Harlot. How do so many Bible readers not realize this?
Now the hatred of the Beast toward the Harlot is not the only hatred the beast has.
Obviously the Beast also hates the Lamb of God, the Redeemer Jesus Christ and makes war with Him.
"These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These WILL MAKE WAR WITH THE LAMB and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and KIng of kings and they who are with Him, the called and chosen and faithful, will also overcome them." (Rev. 17:13,14)
The evil Beast is against the Lamb of God, Christ.
The evil Beast is also against the Mother of Harlots, the mysterious Babylon the Great.
Is this grasped?
Now Babylon the Mother of Harlots is negative too.
Her negativety is because she is the
OPPOSITE of the Wife of Christ.
What the Wife and Bride are to Christ, Babylon is the confused, mixed, corrupted, facade masquerading as the Wife.
But God she is not recognized as the Wife but as the Harlot Mother of many daughters.
Though she is a counterfeit, a facade, a pretender nevertheless the people of God have been CAUGHT up within her.
This compares to the saints in Israel being CAUGHT away into Babylon. They were carried away into captivity.
Here again we see the heavely voices calls for the people of God to come OUT of her.
"And I heard another voice out of heaven, saying, Come out of her, MY PEOPLE, that you do not participate in her sins and that you do not receive her plagues." (Rev. 18:4)
We must distinguish Antichrist
from Babylon. Though they BOTH are evil, the two evils are not the same.
Though they are both evil, God's justified saints, His people have been caught up in the second evil, the Mother of Harlots.
We should interpret Babylon as something carrying away into captivity God's people.
Yet that something is hated eventually by the Antichrist who also HATES the Lamb of God.
Having grasped this hopefully, let us go back to Paul's explanation of Antichrist opposing ALL that pertains to God, declaring himself to be God.
" . . . the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or an object of worshup, so that he sits in the temple of God, setting himself forth, saying that he is God." (2 Thess. 2:3b,4)
This is the ultimate warfare between the secular goverment and the religious entity of a mixture which happens to contain IN that mixture many of God's genuinely saved saints. It is not that easy to understand because EVERY saint who is of God's people is ALSO a constituent of the genuine Bride and Wife, the New Jerusalem.
They are called to COME OUT of the mixture with unbelievers and corruption to be the pure Bride and Wife of the Lamb, the Lamb which conquers the rebellious government of the antchrist.
" These will make war with the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings and they who are with Him, the called and chosen and faithful, will also overcome them." (Rev. 17:13,14)
Decouple the Beast
from the Harlot.
Recognize the antagonism between the two though both are negative.
Though it is certainly true in the OT that the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnessor was evil, the relationship of the Beast and company to the Mother of Harlots, Babylon is of antagonism.
Your thoughts before I add a bit more to explain this?