While the subject of Israel is indeed the star of end-times Bible prophecy, so far as the nations are concerned, the title of this week’s article is not used in reference to that fact. Neither is the blue, six-pointed pyramid/inverted pyramid star that is the symbol of modern Israel the subject of this commentary. The flavor of this piece, however, does include the aforementioned factors.

Particularly, by “the Israel star” I mean to liken the modern incarnation of God’s chosen nation to Planet Earth’s own star, the sun. Just as all bodies in this solar system revolve around the sun, so, it seems, issues, events–nations—revolve around this tiny sliver of land in the Middle East. We will look briefly at things orbiting the Jewish state. The orbits of Israel’s satellites are decaying, and the prophetic Word of God forewarns that as Christ’s return nears, all orbiting humanistic matter will threaten to destroy the Israel star.

The prophecy is plainly in view, and we have used it many times. It becomes more manifest, more relevant for our time, with each passing second.

“The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zech. 12:1-3).

The end-time’s satellites orbiting the minuscule nation and city that God himself calls “the apple of my eye” are everywhere one looks on the geopolitical, socioeconomic, and ecumenical/religious skyline. The orbiting geopolitical issues and events are pressing hard against the atmospherics surrounding Israel.

On the geopolitical front, the Quartet (the U.S., EU, Russia, and U.N.), representing ostensibly the international community, pushes forward with attempts to force a peace process upon Israel and her Islamic/Arab neighbors. The “Palestinian problem” is at the center of the whole Mid-East powder keg that threatens thermonuclear confrontation once Iran gets atomic weapons with the capability to rain the warheads upon the hated Jewish nation the Iranian leaders have vowed to erase from existence.

American administration pressures are an everyday diplomatic tactic, while the U.S. secretary of state–and even the president—travel to the region to strongly urge acceptance of the terms of the “Roadmap to Peace.” At the heart of the process is the demand that Israel divide its already small land, and that a Palestinian state, created from donated Israeli land, comes into existence for the hapless Palestinian people.

Socioeconomically, Israel is increasingly blamed by the western and growing eastern industrialized power players for the exploding prices per barrel of oil. The unsettled Middle East, at the center of which sits the Jewish state, has a stranglehold on the great, wealth-producing entities. Israel’s refusal to give in to all demands its oil-rich neighbors desire is at the back of the minds of all who thirst for energy to fuel their industrial bases. Again, the craving for a peace that will settle things is at the heart of all of these exigencies orbiting the Jewish state.

Leaders of the wealthier nations are now feeling fierce pressures of their peoples, the ones who do the work that produces the wealth. Citizenry’s are more and more feeling the pinch of the upwardly raging prices of petroleum–again, the problem festering in the heart of the Middle East. Societal/cultural pressures are almost certainly set to force leaderships to make moves that will assuage the angers of the working classes within America and Europe–those who have become accustomed to less expensive oil and the cheaper offshoot luxuries they’ve enjoyed.

Again, Israel is seen as the core of the boiling, growing problems that afflict the world socioeconomically.

The anti-Israel religious factions that orbit the nation during these end times increasingly are threatening pressures to force the Jewish state into acquiescing to their angry surrounding neighbors. Some clergy within mainline Reform churches–those that broke from Catholicism in Luther’s Reformation—are making their wishes known. They are supporting the causes of those of Israel’s neighbors. At the heart of this is the part of the Catholic dogma from which the Reform movement clergy never broke. That is, they still hold that the Church has replaced Israel as God’s people of His promises.

Modern Israel has nothing to do with prophecy yet future, is the mantra. This lie from the pit of Satan’s lair will, I believe the prophetic Word of God foretells, be at the center of the whole world crushing around and marginalizing this people of destiny–the Jews. Some years ago, the following news set the stage for the recent call by the major sector of the Presbyterian Church to completely divest itself, and urge other churches to divest themselves of any dealing with Israel. They have in effect “cursed” that nation. SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Presbyterian Church is hearing impassioned pleas to declare its solidarity with the Palestinian Arabs by adopting a series of anti-Israel measures, including proposals for divestment and for backing a suspension of American military aid to the Jewish state…[The body’s “peace committee”] voted, 38-26, to endorse the Amman Call, a peace proposal that includes a Palestinian Arab “right of return,” a guarantee that Jewish leaders contend would lead to the demise of Israel as a Jewish state… (“Presbyterians Urged To Side with Palestinians,” Josh Gerstein, New York Sun, June 25, 2008).

A star once pointed the way to Israel, and the Prince of Peace was born into a world needing saving. The Israel star today, though in unbelief, and unwittingly, is pointing to the prophetic fact that that returning Prince is on His way to truly bring tranquility to a world about to self-destruct.