150. The Final Trumpet

The Failure of Dispensationalism and the Kingship of Christ

Dispensationalists have to argue in order for their system to work that Jesus is not reigning now that he's not on his throne now. Then he has not received his kingdom now and that that Doctrine that little matrix like system that they have concocted Dishonors the king that sits on his throne now and I pray to God that they repent because that sort of blasphemy is inexcusable.

Hello everyone and welcome back to the podcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 150 the great trumpet blast.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the broadcast.

My name is Kendall and we are back for another episode in our revelation series where we began with the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 and we're doing that because The Olivet discourse in Matthew's gospel sort of like the qualifying marathon that you would run before you ever.

Think about suiting up for the Boston or for the New York City Marathon. This is a passage where we can cut our teeth on it and we can learn pivotal aspects of eschatology and prepare Ourself for the rigor that we are going to be facing in the book of Revelation, which is soon to begin.

Actually, we're getting really close to the end of Matthew 24 just a couple more episodes left. Revelation as we've said many times is the pinnacle of New Testament eschatology. So as we prepare to face that eschatological equivalent of Mount Everest We have been getting our footing.

We've been practicing with Theological Sherpas on the Olivet discourse now just in case it's not been clear so far I am what you would call a post millennialist. I believe that Jesus is gonna win the world to himself.

I believe that little by little over time the true and better Adam is gonna fill the world With worshipers like Adam was supposed to do in Genesis 128. I believe that Jesus is gonna make every family on earth come underneath the fountainhead of his covenant blessings Genesis 12 3.

I believe that he's gonna make the nation's obedient to him in fulfillment of Genesis 49 10. I believe that he's gonna spread his dominion far and wide from sea to shining sea from the river to the ends of the earth.

The psalm 72 8 Proclaims. I believe that he's gonna bring peace to the nation's that he's gonna establish rule so Comprehensively over the world that war is gonna be no more as Zechariah 9 10 foretells.

I believe that like the stone and Nebuchadnezzar's dream his kingdom began as something small and Humble and Unassuming like a mustard seed that was sown down into the ground. But as Daniel 2 35 declares It's gonna grow and it's gonna grow until it fulfills its purpose and it fills the entire earth.

The same vision is reaffirmed in Daniel 7 14 where the Son of Man is given dominion over all People all nations all languages. A kingdom that will not pass away a rain that will not be destroyed And will never end his government is Isaiah 9 7 tells us will Continually increase until it's peace knows no end.

This means that the trajectory of world history is not towards destruction But restoration not towards defeat but towards victory not towards collapse But towards building up the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

This is why Jesus taught us to pray your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6 10. Jesus didn't pray this prayer and teach us to pray this prayer out of futility as if the world was never gonna bend its knee To his will.

He told us to pray this because he intends on heaven and earth being reunited together again. He intends on the earth looking like heaven at some point in the future. He intends for this prayer not to be a wimpy whiny cry for something that we don't believe is gonna happen but a battle cry for the advancement of the gospel to the ends of the earth and Jesus himself guaranteed his fulfillment.

Isaiah 2 2 through 4 speaks of the latter days when all of the nations are gonna flow to the mountain of the Lord and they're gonna eagerly learn his ways and walk in his paths, which is exactly what the Great Commission says a globe filled with disciples.

Nations beating their swords into plowshares war being unlearned and the law of God going forth from Zion to bring peace unto all peoples. How does that happen? Through disciples making disciples making disciples to the ends of the earth.

In Matthew 28 18 through 20 Jesus declares that all authority in heaven and on earth now belongs to him. Not will belong to him not could belong to him not will belong to him someday. But does belong to him in full right now and in that power and in that authority He has sent forth his church.

Telling them to baptize the nations telling them to teach the nations and telling them to teach the nations not Some some minimalistic mere Christendom sort of vocabulary, but to teach the nations how to obey Everything Jesus has commanded.

He's talking about a world that is the future of it is a world that obeys Christ that falls Underneath his lordship. This is not a failure mission. This is a world conquering mission. He is with us as we do it as he promised and he'll be with us as we do this.

Until the very end of the age until the task is completed. That is why Jeremiah 3134 says of the future that you're gonna look at your neighbor and say know the Lord and they're already gonna know the Lord from the least to the very Greatest.

The whole world is gonna be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the water covers the seas. Habakkuk 2 14. This is why John 3 16 does not limit the scope of Jesus's love to just a few people.

But he says for God so loved the world. Why. Because God eventually is gonna redeem the world. That's why 1st John 2 2 tells us that Jesus is the propitiation not just for our sins but for the sins of the entire world.

The redemption Christ has purchased is global in scale and total in its effect. The process of its application is ongoing and it will keep going until It's finished. The glory of the Lord's gonna cover the earth.

That's total. That is complete. That is a world without rebellion. That is a world with no more resistance. That is a world That is totally submitted to Christ. That's a world where the scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler staff from between his feet.

Until all the peoples on earth bring him tribute and render to him their obedience. Genesis 49 10 Before Jesus returns He's not gonna come back to a bruised and a beaten bride. He's not gonna come back to a world That's fractured divided war torn and broken, but he's gonna come back To a world that is submitted to him.

John 17 23 says that it will be a world that is united around him. Psalm 22 27 through 28 tells us that all the ends of the earth are gonna remember and turn to the Lord. That's not speculation. These verses that I just quoted you are promises Promises that the world is gonna turn to him.

The world is gonna worship before him. The world is gonna obey him. The world is gonna submit to him. The world is going to love him. These verses are reasons why that I don't believe in doom and gloom.

These are reasons why I have great hope great reason to believe that the evil in this world has an Expiration date. The darkness is passing away. The true light is already shining. The kingdom is growing and its increase will no no in and it's really Difficult for us to see it.

It's like grass growing. You don't notice it but it's happening if you think about the fact that in a d30, there was a hundred and twenty believers and in 1950 There was only 800 million from 1950 until 2020 we went from 800 million people who called Jesus Lord to 2 .5 billion.

Did you did you hear what I just said in 70 years? We've went from 800 million to 2 .5. That is a 3x Multiplication of the church in just 70 years and yet The enemy has been so clever in Convincing all of us that we are losing that we are not gaining that we are just moments away from a rapture because the world couldn't possibly get any worse than it is right now the wildfires in California the the Russian invasion of Ukraine the World Economic Forum the trilateral council I've even heard ones now that Trump is the Antichrist and before that it was Biden and before that it was Obama and before that it was Bush and on and on and on it goes and yet.

All Jesus's kingdom does it just keeps on winning and winning and winning? Wow. It seems like everybody misses it.

The End of the Old Covenant World

But.

Before all of this happens. Before this gospel goes to the ends of the earth before all of this is fully realized. Which is what post-millennialism is most of New Testament eschatology is focused on a critical moment in redemptive history that had to take place before.

This glorious kingdom advanced now. I just said earlier. I'm a post-millennialist. I believe that that the kingdom is advancing the kingdom is coming. I believe that Jesus is his church is gonna advance to the ends of the earth.

I believe that but before We get there the New Testament actually has to show us why that that's gonna happen. And the reason why that's gonna happen is because Jesus perfectly totally Ended the Old Covenant world.

He brought the final judgment on the Old Covenant world just as the birth of the New Covenant the post-millennial world that I've been talking about is rising so that Jesus is Doing two things in the New Testament.

Eschatologically speaking. He is putting to death the Old Covenant world and he is rising out of the ashes of that Old Covenant world a new covenant kingdom that'll take over the world. Jesus came and he dismantled the Mosaic system so that the kingdom of Christ Could come on earth and fill the earth.

Not with the sacrificial system. Not with the Levitical priesthood not with the temple cult that was still standing in Jerusalem. No, he came to destroy that Old Covenant system, which was not an incidental accidental event in history.

Necessary prerequisite to inaugurate the beginning of his worldwide kingdom expansion. That is why Jesus speaks so forcefully about the end of the age in Matthew 24 3. Because he's not talking about the end of the world.

He's not talking about the end of human history. He's talking about the severance of the types and shadows the end of that Old Covenant system where he is Going to put that away. So that he could bring about his new covenant kingdom.

Just like the exile of Israel marked the beginning of a new redemptive phase the downfall of Jerusalem marked the final Irreversible transition away from the Mosaic era to the age of the Messiah. This is why so much New Testament eschatology is.

Not like the dispensational's claim about distant future events. But about imminent first century collapse of Jerusalem the center of the Old Covenant world instead of the New Testament talking about the end.

It mostly talks about the beginning. The beginning of what? The end of the Jewish age in the beginning of the church that is the most prescient The most important eschatological event that the New Testament writers considered right in front of them.

It was future to them. But it's not future to us. It was things that were still in their future. But not in our future now. We live under the reign of Jesus Christ. Now we live in his kingdom. But the New Testament writers were looking forward to a day when that kingdom would come in full.

So what I would tell you is.

That.

The majority of Eschatological passages that are in the Bible the majority of them are future For the first century audience, but they're not future for us. Their future for them their future for the for the Apostles for the first century church, but not for us.

That is exactly why Jesus says truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Why. Because he was Inaugurating a kingdom as Daniel 7 says that will win all people that will win all languages and that will never end.

The term generation as we've described many times before Ginnea Never refers to a far future group, but it always refers to a people who are living at that time. The phrase is used consistently throughout the Gospels to refer to Christ contemporaries.

Jesus says to what shall I compare this generation. Matthew 11 16? That's he's talking about that generation. He says in Matthew 12 39 an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. That's that generation right in front of him.

He says in Matthew 12 41 through 42 the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment. That's generation right in front of him. Matthew 12 45 this or that is the way It will also be with this evil generation.

Matthew 16 for an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it. Matthew 23 36 truly I say all these things will come upon this generation. There's simply no instance in the book of Matthew or in the New Testament in which the word this generation the phrase this generation Means anything other than the people who are living at that time the idea that it refers to some distant in time Generation is pure Isis it's reading into the text something that's not there because you're coming to the text with your own Ideas and you're forcing them into the text like a round peg in a square hole.

When Jesus says this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. He meant it. He's unmistakably referring to the people standing in front of him that generation won't pass away until all of Matthew 24 Has happened and I believe the majority the overwhelming majority of New Testament passages that deal with eschatology are Not dealing about things that are future to us, but they're dealing about this that generation would not pass away until the end of the Old Covenant order was Completed and the rise of the New Testament Church was inaugurated.

That is what New Testament eschatology is overwhelmingly about. Not events that are in our future but events are in the near term future for the men who wrote the New Testament the men who spoke the New Testament the Audience who heard the original declaration of the New Testament.

They were thinking that these events were in their future, but we should not be thinking that most of those events are in ours. Why do I say this? Because as we've seen so far many many many many times I Would even argue most of the passages in the New Testament are Near term future fulfillments that were finished in the first century.

We've seen it over and over in Matthew 24. We've seen that there are talking about the collapse of Judah as a covenant people. We're that they're talking about that the end of the old Temple the end of the sacrificial system the end of the priesthood.

We've seen that and that's where I Come to kind of my point in sharing why I'm a post-mogon elus. Because I am looking forward to a grand and victorious future as Jesus continues to reign but I want to acknowledge that a significant Contingency of eschatological passages in the New Testament are not about that Future glorious King there are passages.

There are things in the future but most of it most of it is Talking about things that are going to occur in the first century and you have to think like a Jew here. Don't think like a 21st century Christian where your life is the most important thing under the Sun.

Every generation thinks that way because we're egocentric people. We think our life is more important than anyone else's. But if you think about it just logically for a second The most important event that happens in the Bible until the church until Jesus offers salvation is That the temple that God set up during the time of Moses.

That era is over. I mean from Exodus to Malachi. The in the majority of the Old Testament is a temple centric era. It's a sacrificial centric era. It's a priesthood centric era. It's feast and clean and unclean and and Ceremonial laws and civic laws and and you've got this Old Testament system that pervades the vast majority of the Bible the Old Testament is 75 of the entire Bible and the Mosaic system is about 90 of that.

So you're looking at somewhere around 65 or 70 of the entire Bible is the Mosaic Covenant and When Jesus comes along and says that it's ending that it's time is finished that it's passing away. You are listening to from Jesus's perspective and from the perspective of the Apostles who are listening to this.

You are listening to the most consequential thing that had happened in Redemptive history up until that point. So it makes sense. Why the people living in that day? Considered it's such a magnificent event and why they wrote about it so much and why the Majority the eschatological passages in the New Testament are talking about that again.

The vast majority of eschatological passages, I believe and I think I've proven so far Occur within the first century. Just like the ones that we've been looking at so far. For example, we looked at this one last week.

Isaiah 13 10 describes the fall of Babylon and it uses celestial imagery of collapse. So what we're saying here is Isaiah 13 10. Just like Matthew 24 is a passage that was in the future of one people.

But not in the future of all people. When Isaiah gave this message he was talking about the fall of a nation called Babylon that was currently in power and It did fall. Historically, it was destroyed by the Persians and Isaiah 13 10 was fulfilled then this is what Isaiah 13 10 says the stars of heaven and their Constellations will not flash their light.

The Sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light. Isaiah 13 10 clearly Babylon when it fell actually in history, it did not involve actual Astronomical breakdowns in the heaven, but rather what we've been talking about here.

Is that the language of this heavenly? Visionary language represents a political and spiritual Downfall of a great and powerful empire in human history. God uses apocalyptic language. Which is spiritual symbols heavenly symbols to describe things that are happening on earth.

That's the genre. The same holds true for Matthew 24 when Jesus talks about the Sun and the moon and the stars. He's doing the exact same thing.

First-Century Fulfillment and the End of the Jewish Age

Now.

To be clear. I'm arguing here for most of the New Testament has already occurred Eschatologically speaking. I believe all of Matthew 24 already happened. I I believe all of Revelation which 1 through 20 already happened and I believe Revelation 21 and 22 Have not been finished yet, but they've been inaugurated already.

So I'm arguing for a massive amount of Eschatological passages in the New Testament to have already been fulfilled, but I want to be clear. I am NOT a full preterist. I don't believe that the final resurrection has happened.

I don't believe that the final consummation of Christ's reign Occurred in 8070 to be clear. I believe that there's still things that are in our future, but I Don't think that's the purpose of Matthew 24.

I don't think that's the purpose of the book of Revelation. I think they are written to people who are getting ready to experience massive amounts of persecution death famine disease and all sorts of things in Jesus and John are Writing to them to encourage them to hold fast because that system the Jewish system is Collapsing and the church is rising.

It was a method. It was a way of Encouraging them to hold fast. That's why Revelation says over and over and over he who endures to the end will be saved. He who conquers will be saved. That's why it talks in these ways.

Understanding this point is crucial. Because full preterist or sometimes they're called hyper preterist claim that all the prophecies including the final resurrection and the second coming. Were fulfilled in the first century now we did talk about this last week the second coming and and I clarified that this is not the physical bodily end of human history coming of Jesus but full preterism believes that all of its already happened and I think that that's a grave error.

Scripture teaches us that Christ's kingdom will grow and it will expand over time. Daniel 235 Isaiah 9 7 that the final enemy that's gonna be destroyed is death. 1st Corinthians 15 26 and that Enemy is gonna be destroyed by Jesus when he comes back personally because he must reign until He's put all of his enemies under his feet and the final enemy is death and he himself will deal with death.

That was not finished in 80 70 death is still around. Death is still here. Death still reigns in the world. My grandma's still died. Your pet cat Muffy still dies. We know. That death is still an enemy.

We're not gonna solve that technology is not gonna solve that cancer. Research is not gonna solve that that much is going to be gained in the world because of the church. Advancing technology and it already has happened in the last 2 ,000 years.

Now the world is more fruitful more people can live on the earth more people can have food more people can have shelter. The world has been lifted out of poverty because of the church. The world has been educated by the church.

The world has been healed at hospitals because the church invented them. The church is gonna have massive gains by the power of the Holy Spirit in Submission to Christ, but the final enemy death will not be conquered by anyone save Christ.

He will come back. He will defeat death. He will usher in the eternal state. He is what we are waiting on after we have taken the gospel to the ends of the earth. That's the part of pressure partial preterist position.

Which is the one that I hold that posits that the overwhelming majority of New Testament eschatol eschatological text have already happened. And they refer to the judgment on apostate Israel and the inauguration of the first century church but there are still things that remain in our future including the final resurrection of the dead first Corinthians 15 the final visible return of Jesus Christ acts 111 and the complete renewal of the entire creation Romans 8 19 through 22.

Therefore. When I say that Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation are already fulfilled I'm referring to their first century fulfillment of the Collapse of the Jews and the rise of the Old Covenant and I am arguing that they don't have to do.

With the final coming of Jesus Christ at the end of human history. You may disagree with me on that. But that has been my aim to set out and to prove that and now we're 13 episodes in. So with that with that introduction if you're new here, I do want to say thank you.

I want to say thank you for being here. And oh my goodness. Talk about hard switches here. We have had I think in the last 28 days.

Over.

550 new subscribers.

On an.

Eschatology channel on a Post-millennial partial preterist channel that's talking about first century events. Like if you're gonna read a book on how to grow your subscribers on YouTube. This is not what they would tell you to do and yet by God's grace 550 new subscribers have come so welcome to every single one of you here.

Welcome. We're glad you're here. But if you're confused on what we're talking about and you're like I don't know where to start then start at our first episode in this series. Go back and watch because what we've done is we've walked through Matthew 24 verse by verse and we've talked about What has already happened and we've proved that Jesus in Matthew 24 is talking about things that are gonna happen in the first century, we've talked about earthquakes and famines and false messiahs and and and the abomination of desolation.

We've talked about The Great Tribulation the Little Tribulation. We've talked about a lot. 13 episodes so far over 20 hours of content that is there for you to take advantage of. To and if you like it and it's helpful for you share it with others.

Send it to other people. Do a Bible study on this topic with some friends. I'm putting this content out to help Christians understand biblical eschatology. So if you're new. Don't skip those episodes go back and watch them.

They will be very helpful to you. So with that, let us get into today's episode and we need to begin With the Bible. We don't want to begin with our opinions. We want to begin with the Bible. And today our passage is Matthew 24 verse 31 and this is what the text says.

And He will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds. From one end of the sky to the other. Matthew 24 31. Now. Let's jump into Part one an eschatological Rosetta stone.

The Apocalyptic Genre as the Rosetta Stone for Matthew 24

Now as one of the engineering divisions of Napoleon Bonaparte's army was preparing for another Egyptian building to be demolished one of his lieutenants Inadvertently stumbled upon one of the most significant Archaeological discoveries in the modern era the Rosetta stone perhaps you've heard of it.

It was built right into the wall of an Egyptian house and moments before this building was torn to the ground. They found this massive stone text that had inscriptions on it written in three different languages.

That would basically unlock the entire Egyptian hieroglyphic system from that day forward. Before that the language of the Egyptians was in the esoteric Pictorial based language that was written on pottery shards and written on the side of ancient buildings that no one could make head or tails Of and yet after that the entire world of ancient Egyptology opened up like never before.

Because the key to the text had been found. Now if you'll bring this metaphor over into the world of the Bible. The apocalyptic genre is very much like those Egyptian hieroglyphics. It's confusing. It's pictorial.

The genre is well known for its confusing images. It's words that signs and it symbols which many people don't understand and they obfuscate in many various ways. It's been a source of confusion among the scholarly and the tenfoil hat wearing novice community forever who come up with one theory after another after another.

Attempting to crack the proverbial code when the Rosetta Stone has been right there all along thankfully. We don't have to look into the future. We don't have to look into the present. We need to look into the past to figure out how to interpret these events and we've already been given the Rosetta Stone as it were on how to interpret these events because they're in the Bible.

Instead of looking at geopolitical events or reading reddit subthread. It's about the rise of Kazarian Luciferians and ancient Freemasons and the Illuminati ruling the world and all of that stuff. We need to just open up our Bible.

Because the Bible is the key to understanding the apocalyptic genre the Rosetta Stone's right there in the pages of the Old Testament see unlike many genres of the Bible Apocalyptic is entirely dependent upon the past.

To show us what it means for the present it borrows language and images and symbols that come right out of the Old Testament scriptures that were previously recorded by the prophets and because of that the key to understanding the prophecies of Eschatology are given to us not in our world not in events happening 2 ,000 years.

Disconnected from the authors of scripture, but in the Old Testament scriptures themselves the authors that wrote those passages alluded to certain things that that other writers used and look back on and use them as symbols so we're gonna understand Eschatology.

We have to understand Old Testament prophecies and today I Want to look at a very interesting Interesting Very poignant example of this. I want to look at a passage that is widely misunderstood. That is very difficult in English to understand that is very difficult for us as 21st century Christians to understand and when we talk about it with all of its angels and all of its in all of its Rapture sort of theology.

I want to look at you and say like an ego Montoya said I don't think you know what that means. You can be using that word, but I don't. I think you know what it means.

Today.

We're gonna look at that passage and we're gonna try to understand Exactly what it means and it's apocalyptic Genre and to do that The first thing that we need to do is we need to understand what the apocalyptic genre is.

Apocalyptic Imagery in American and Biblical Speech

So with that part 2 honky-tonk Apocalyptics now one of the distinguishing features of the apocalyptic genre is that it communicates urgent news.

An.

Essential truth to present tense audiences using ancient signs and symbols and characters and figures and Things that you would find in the heavens. The writer who has an urgent message to share with his Contemporary audience would ratchet up the intensity of his message by reaching back into the annals of the past resurrecting the familiar images of their National identity stories and characters from their shared collective history and their Experiences the Jewish people and that he would employ them in the story world of his apocalyptic vision.

Which is by the way a mouthful. So in order to drive this point home, I'm gonna use a country music example to prove my point. I've used this before but I don't think I've used it on the broadcast. So here we go.

9 11 is one of those events that's burned and seared into the conscience of the American people and at that time one of the songs that captured the heart of the American people that United us together that caused us to want to fight that caused us to want to go stick it to the terrorist.

A song That I played over and over and over when I was in the military Was a song by a man named Toby Keith called courtesy of the red white and blue. And that song Toby Keith masterfully employs the American version of apocalyptic genre.

He uses images he uses things in our national identity that threatened the destruction of the terrorist and who had weaponized their planes against our people and he does it in this Apocalyptic in a masterful way.

This is what he says. Hey uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list and the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist and The eagle will fly man. It's gonna be hell when you hear mother freedom start ringing her bell and it feels like the whole wide world is Raining down on you brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue Toby Keith.

Now if you were living in the year 40 BC or in the year 4 ,000 AD None of that would make the least bit sense to you. You would be like who is mother freedom? Who is uncle Sam? But what Toby Keith is saying to you and I because we live in America.

We live in the 21st century. We understand what these images mean. Then we know that uncle Sam is not an angry uncle who's really shaking his fist. We know that he's not making a kill list like Hillary Clinton.

He is not Toby Keith is not describing a vengeful statue named Liberty Who's shaking her fist and some kind of robotic fury? He's not claiming that there's a woman known as mother freedom and he's not saying that she's the ringer of strange bells.

He's not claiming that some inconspicuous Flapping object that is colored in red white and blue paint or something like that is fighting in the actual battles. And he's not claiming certainly that this red white and blue flying object is Raining down bullets on top of the citizens of the world.

All of that is apocalyptic imagery. Toby Keith is borrowing from our standard canon of American Iconography and he's using these well-known images in our world and bringing them to life and visionary and warlike ways.

To prove the point. What is it? He's proving the point that America will not stand for this terrorist attack and we're gonna fight. That's the literal wooden meaning underneath it. And why is he doing it like this?

Well because the apocalyptic genre Powerfully communicates the message of vengeance and the message of doom and it does so in a way that inspires you that Rivets you that that captivates your attention.

When you sing that song, hey uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list. It's vivid. It's patriotic. It it's talking about troop recruitment. It's talking about going to war. It's talking about it's talking about us Reclaiming our liberty as a people it's talking about national freedom.

It's it's inspiring us to anger for the right reasons because our freedom was put in jeopardy and it's Calling us as a people to unite and be unified in the administering of ferocious justice upon our Enemies all of which is represented by a red white and blue flag.

That's flying overhead as a symbol of our national pride and our identity. We the people are Represented by this flag and we the people went to war with the terrorist raining munitions down on top of their Taliban II heads and all of the vision of this Toby Keith country music song is Apocalyptic, but it means something actual to us because they're our images.

They're our Characters, they're our history. They're our Symbols, we understand them easily because they're our National images the same is true for the first century disciples. They don't understand our images just like we often don't understand theirs their images look different than ours.