Were the sieges of Jerusalem and Constantinople figures of the Apocalypse?
A viewer named Victor asks whether the sieges of Jerusalem and Constantinople were figures of the Apocalypse.
Answer
Constantinople is not in Scripture, so we cannot make a judgment on that. But Jerusalem, yes. In Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 each writer intertwines a historical account of what will happen to Jerusalem, and the terminus of that is 70 AD when the Jews are conquered by the Roman Titus. The New Testament never actually names 70 AD; we get that date from history and read it into the text. Then, uncannily, each of the three evangelists skips over the whole New Testament period and jumps from 70 AD straight to the end of time and the second coming. Luke is graphic about it: Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in (Luke 21:24), and the very next verse jumps to the stars falling and Christ appearing. So you have to read those eschatological gospel narratives knowing they speak both about 70 AD and about the end of time. Once you sort out where one begins and the other ends, it all fits together.