I admire Stephen Hawking.

First, for inspiring all of us to work for our dreams, even while he’s engaged in his own heroic battle with ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Second, as a world-renowned physicist and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Third, as a brilliant communicator who uses the latest computer and communication technologies to speak and write.

Fourth, for boldly proclaiming what he believes to be true about God’s existence.

In his new book “The Grand Design” Hawking argues that God did not create the universe. During an interview with CNN’s Larry King, he said, “God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator.”

The morning after his Larry King appearance, I was still thinking about Professor Hawking.

Here’s a man who at age 21 thought he only had a few years to live. Today, 45 years later, he is the longest-surviving sufferer of ALS ever, an international celebrity, has sold millions of books, draws huge crowds wherever he speaks, and was cited by Time as the heir to Einstein.

A godless hope?

Hawking says beating the odds with ALS in particular “shows that one need not lose hope.” He also believes that God had no part in extending his life.

If only he would get it, I thought. God would reveal the answer to the ultimate question about truth that science is not revealing to him. He could become a powerful voice acknowledging God’s eternal existence and active redemptive involvement in the world.

While pondering these things, I happened to be reading Isaiah 45. In those passages, I began to see the possibility that Stephen Hawking’s life is revealing the existence of the God of the Bible, the author of hope. How is that?

Speaking through Isaiah, “The Lord says, I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places. I call you by name and bestow on you a title of honor though you do not acknowledge me. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me.”

Here we see a man that doesn’t acknowledge the one Creator God. Yet, this same man is still given marvelous insights, prestigious position and physical strength. The prophet says these marvelous gifts of generosity and mercy have been allowed so that the entire world can know that there is “a righteous God and a Savior.”

So could Professor Hawking be fulfilling God’s purposes when he categorically states on the world stage that if there is a God, he had nothing to do with the creation of the universe? That’s exactly how it looks, from a biblical perspective.

Instead of convincingly reconciling creation without a creator, Hawking’s controversial claims release a flood of theological discussion into the public square.

Thanks to the Internet, a worldwide avalanche of questions and answers about God and the Bible flow back and forth. As with previous writings on the existence of God, religious leaders and theologians, even some of Hawking’s Cambridge colleagues, challenge his positions. The blogosphere, online newspapers and discussion groups fill with what Christians believe about creation and salvation.

A search on Google for “God did not create the universe” returns 11 million hits. The first twenty pages dominated by Hawking.

In the debate between faith and science, Hawking and his supporters probably reassure some in their disbelief. A few may even be swayed to adopting an atheistic or agnostic point of view.

Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:22

But I wonder if Professor Hawking realizes that some, already prepared by the Holy Spirit, are also exposed to the truth of the Bible as a result of the religious controversy he fuels. As a focus is put on whether God exists, their eyes are opened. Some may become believers. Seeds of truth get planted for sure.

Online discussions of faith and easy access to technology reminds us why Christians must be vigilant in using the Internet for outreach and evangelism.

So it turns out that while Stephen Hawking is working through physics to try and prove why we’re here, God is working through Stephen Hawking to prove that He is here. One of the world’s most famous atheists is unwittingly calling attention to the fact that God wants all to be saved. Even those fiercely rejecting Him.