Jesus and His Church in the Book of 2 Kings
Part 2

The Church, the People of God
Too Divine and too Human

Second Kings:
    Part 1: Quick Survey: Elisha, Northern and Southern Kingdoms (Israel and Judah)
    Part 1a: 15 prophecies and types of Second Kings fulfilled in Jesus Christ and His Church, Elisha a type of Jesus Christ and His Church
    Part 1b: Prophet Elisha
    Part 2: The Church, the People of God, too Divine and too Human. Rebels, heretics, in the Old and New Covenant.
    Part 3: The Church, the People of God, too Divine and too Human. Rebels, heretics, in the Old and New Covenant.
 

   The Church, the People of God in the Old Testament, are those descendents of David faithful to him.

     This is how the Bible puts it:

The Pastor of the Church... David... Peter:

    David as Shepherd of God's People:   

    The youthful David was a real shepherd of lambs... and became the shepherd of the lambs of God.

    Of course, the Shepherd is God, but on earth God established David as the Shepherd of His People, as Ezekiel relates:

    - In Ezekiel 34 God says repeatedly "I myself will look after and tend my sheep"... "I myself will pasture my sheep" (Ez.34:11-15)...
    - But in verse 23, God says: "I will appoint one shepherd over my sheep to pasture them, my servant David; he shall pasture my sheep and be their shepherd"... and so, he who is loyal to David or his successors, belongs to the People of God, and he who is not loyal to David or his successors, does not belong to the People of God, even if he is a Jew born in Jerusalem... rather he is a rebel, or a heretic ("heretic" means "rebel")...

    Peter as Shepherd:

    - Jesus did with Peter what God had done with David:
        - In John 10 Jesus repeats "I am the shepherd... I am the good shepherd".
        - But in John 21, after resurrection, Jesus says 3 times to Peter, and only to Peter, in front of the other Apostles, "feed my lambs... tend my sheep... feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17)... "my lambs"... "my sheep"... the lambs and sheep of Jesus!... so now, accordingly, he who is loyal to Peter or his successors, belongs to the only Church of Christ, and he who is not loyal to Peter or his successors, does not belong to the Church of Christ, even if he knows all the Bible by heart, he is a rebel, or a heretic...
    The Church of Christ   Organization of the Church 

In 2 Kings:

    In 2 Kings we have the Kingdom divided, the Northern Kingdom (Israel, with Samaria the capital), and the Southern Kingdom (Judah, with Jerusalem the capital).

    The Northern Kingdom was established by a rebellion of Jeroboam and ten tribes against the rightful descendent of David, Rehoboam.

    Consequently, the Northern Kingdom is a rebel, a heretic (heretic means rebel)... it does not belong to the People of God, to the Church of the Old Testament. Of course, they are Hebrews, but they do not belong to the People of God... rather they are rebels against the true and only one People of God, the only one Church of God in the Old Testament.

    This is the reason why in the Books of Chronicles the Northern Kingdom is not even mentioned, only the Southern Kingdom, the only one People of God. Because the Chronicles are like the Books of Kings but relating to the religious aspect of the People of God.

    In the whole Bible the Northern Kingdom actually disappears, they are known as "the lost ten tribes".

    Athaliah, daughter of King Ahab of Israel and wife of Jehoram of Judah, became the only queen of Judah at the death of her son Ahaziah. And tried to destroy all the royal seed descendent from David when she sees Ahaziah is dead. But Ahaziah's sister hides his son Jehoash or Joash who became King of Judah, truly descendent of David (2K.11). So, in Judah the line of the descendents of David was never broken.

In Christianity:

    In Christianity we have a similar situation.

    Martin Luther rebelled against the rightful descendent of Peter, he went out of the only one Church of Christ, he was a rebel, a heretic.

    The descendents of Luther, his followers, do not belong to the only one Church of Christ... of course, they are Christians, followers of Christ, but they are rebels, heretics.

    What about the Orthodox?:

    They also rebelled against the rightful descendent of Peter... they are also rebels, heretics.

    In the Church of God there have been many rebels, many heretics... in the Old Covenant and in the New Covenant. Of course, some of them became more successful, but always rebels, heretics, if they do not convert.