How do you see the ministry of the church function within the scope of the national redemptive matters which belonged to the Hebrew nation?
 

Collin - do you want the long or the short answer?

The short answer is: the church's calling is a continuation of Israel's calling as understood through the king of the Jews who is embodiment of Israel's god - Jesus himself. By his atoning death he has made all things clean. By his resurrection he has begun God's new creation - making all things new. By his Spirit, he has called all nations into the blessings of Israel - making all peoples chosen. By his authority, he has sent his redeemed people into the entire world - making every land holy. It's Israel on a whole new scale, defined not only by original deliverance from Egypt, but by the exodus' ultimate fulfillment in the death and resurrection of the son of God on behalf of Israel and the world.

The long answer is: read this blog for the next 3 years or so.
 

So, to better understand your theology, are you post-mill?
 

Gosh, I don't even remember what that means. I'm certainly not whatever Tim LaHaye is. ;-) Post-Mill means that the 1000 year reign has already happened and ended? I have no idea - I'll have to read Revelation again. One thing is certain, I do await the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

I do think Revelation is a deeply symbolic book that, in order to understand, you need a solid grasp of the entire Bible, and especially the book of Daniel. I really hope I manage to make it there in this little project of mine!

My theology is a work in progress. I don't currently have a solid camp I'm in, though I'm learning a great deal from N. T. Wright at the moment. Please don't take what I say on any of these posts as my final opinion on anything. I want to learn more, and go deeper into the Bible - and I appreciate other people joining me along the way to help me do just that.
 

Studying is certainly the best way to develop a theology. There seem to be two major elements (within orthodoxy) that help refine theology.
What is the Church?
Is it all people of faith through all ages, or did it start at Pentecost?
How this is answered provides a framework for the next issue:
How has God been working through history?
Has He worked *primarily* by way of (1) covenant relationships or (2) through an outlined plan to accomplish specific goals at different times?
Your view of the end times will likely cascade off your answer to these two concerns.
Enjoy.
 

Collin,

Of course, deciding what questions to ask has a huge influence over what answers you will get. This is true of everything - from scientific visualization to theology. The questions you've asked, especially with the answers you've posed, come out of well defined theological battle lines. But there are more than two sides to many issues, and I think the picture the Bible paints is far more nuanced than either side.

Basically, I want to avoid coming at the Bible with predefined theological questions, and let the Bible itself determine the questions it wants to answer. Perhaps I am deceiving myself - we all have implicit questions and assumptions. But what I've done so far is go at it as a story - rather than as raw data to be collected into a theological model.

Let me try to muddy the waters for you a bit. Here are some quick answers to your "either/or" questions.

What is the Church? It is the people of God, expanded to include all nations into the promise of God to Abraham. Once many of us were not a people - now we are God's people. We are a part of the family of Abraham through adoption by the work of Christ and his spirit at Pentecost. Is that option 1 or option 2?

How has God been working through history? He has worked primarily in calling a people to himself out of all the nations of the world, as a platform for his own engagement with the world. In the fullness of time, he was embodied as one of them and fulfilled the vocation of Israel by the utter obedience (typified by Abraham and Isaac) that the nation as a whole so often lacked. The great act of redemption (Jesus death and resurrection) is modeled on the great types in Israel's history - Abraham's Sacrifice of Isaac, the Exodus, the Kingdom & Temple, Exile and Restoration - but large enough to then shower Israel's blessings to all nations. It's a great work of art - a great story that we are a part of, through our participation with God as his covenant people. But it is a developing story, and things are not now as they were - in fact things are so different now that we might even say God's new creation has already begun in Jesus & his resurrection - and in the work of the Spirit. Is this option 1, or option 2?
 

I chose those two questions because of their history in Biblical studies -- all the way bak to the early church. They reflect directly on the principles of separating law and grace, of chosen people and chosen nation, and so much more.
They're not meant to be simple either/or issues, but starting points for creating a mental framework for a better understanding. They're questions that have received attention for most of the past 2k years and can help clarify matters as you let the Word speak for itself.