Prophets to the Nations?

2 Kings 8
          This passage includes something that I don't think we've seen yet as we've read through the Scriptures.  Elisha, the prophet of Israel, demonstrates that he is a prophet to other nations, too.  In Exodus, Moses confronted Pharaoh, but the freedom of Israel was the issue there.  In Numbers, Balaam was named a prophet who was hired from the nations to curse Israel, but we discovered that he was more a flim-flam artist than a true prophet.  But here, Elisha wanders off to Damascus and Ben-Hadad honors his prophetic office.
          This might be the first time a prophet of Israel works in a pagan nation, but it certainly won't be the last.  When we come to the writing prophets, we will discover that the prophets of Israel have a lot to say to the pagan nations around them.
          Now, why would the prophets of a rather small country presume that they had a message for the great powers around them?  Why, because their God claimed to be the Lord of all the nations.  He claimed to be the Creator of heaven and earth.  He claimed to raise up kings and to cast them down.  The nations may have found this presumptuous, but that was the Lord's claim.
          We New Testament believers make similar claims.  The most basic confession of the Christian faith has always been, "Jesus is Lord," and that means that He is Lord over heaven and earth.  We believe that Jesus is the Lord, that all earthly powers will on the last day be subjected to Him, and that He is already exerting His royal will over the whole earth to work all things out for the good of those who love Him.  (To be sure, we have to be careful with this kind of language.  Too often we try to use the Lordship of Jesus to justify our desire to run this fallen world.  It is true that Jesus rules this fallen world, that He is Lord of it.  However, by the mysterious design of God, we endure its fallenness and the evil that results from it.  Our dream ought not be to rule a fallen world but to reign with Christ in a restored world.)
          So, like Elisha and the other prophets we have a message for the world, that the world is not in charge of its own affairs like it thinks it is, that there is a Lord over all who will bring all things into conformity with His purposes, and we have an invitation for that world, that they might follow this God with us.