The Hebrews writer penned, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
          Stephen Hawking passed from this life into eternity on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. As of 2011, Mr. Hawking did not believe the words of inspiration. In an interview with The Guardian, quoted by USA Today, the physicist said, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”
          God blessed Mr. Hawking with intelligence, but the man refused to use that blessing to observe the Almighty’s creation all around Him and seek the designer of it all. In The Grand Design, published in 2010, Mr. Hawking wrote, “Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.”
          Sadly, to the best of my knowledge, Mr. Hawking never shed his self-proclaimed atheism. As Christians, we must mourn not only the loss of his brilliant mind but also the eternal state of his soul. We cannot rejoice in the eternal condemnation of the unbelieving, but trust in the righteousness of God. We need to share the desire of the Lord, who is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to the repentance” (2 Peter 3:9) and strive to reach those with whom we have some influence.
          Mr. Hawking said, “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist.” Friends, all the answers that we need are found in the Holy Scriptures.
          “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).