“Perhaps the greatest help to any growing young person today is to find a role model to identify with that can lead one to seek the highest station in live and eternity. In fact, in the world of Christianity, we are desperately in need of inspiring Christian models with which our Christian youth can identify. Heroes, if you will, who are worthy to follow as examples of godly men and women who had the power to change the world in which they live.”

Role models are important for any generation, but more so today than ever before.  It seems in the secular world this ingredient has been missing for some time, but in the world of Christianity, it also seems to have been forgotten. What is today's topic about? Or, shall I say who is it about? It is about a man most everyone has heard of – Sir Isaac Newton, the famous scientist this world could not do without. However, as you get ready for an interesting commentary on the life of this man, a dynamic Christian and role model from the past, we'll pause one more time to hear a beautiful keyboard arrangement of a popular contemporary song of praise…

.. Isaac Newton was of all things, an inventor, a scientist, a teacher and foremost a Christian scholar and lover of God's Word. From the days Jesus Christ began His ministry on the earth, the Lord used men and women, common and great, to spread His priceless story of saving grace. Moreover, down through the centuries to come, Jesus used individual choice Christians to introduce to the world, the wonderful mysteries of our material existence through the explorations of what we call “science.” Although we live in a world that today rejects the idea of a Creator God who is sovereignty in control of His creation, such ideas have become foreign to the world of science today. Contrary to popular thought, for centuries, some of the greatest minds of scientific and medical wonder were only found among those who were ardent believers in the Bible and its creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. My case in point today is the story of Isaac Newton. Today in the secular world of science and technology, Isaac Newton is still generally regarded as the greatest scientist who ever lived! Now that's a tall statement, but in a moment I’ll show you why this is so. First, another pause for a musical refreshment then I’ll be right back, so don’t go away…

... Sir Isaac Newton is I believe one of the most stirring role models for our youngest generation to consider, so let's begin from the moment of his birth. It was a cold Christmas day in 1642 in Woolsthorpe , England . A recently widowed woman gave birth to what appeared to be a very sickly baby. The midwife and others caring for the mother and baby boy held out little hope for his survival. However, it was God’s will to allow him the privilege of life. The boy was named after his deceased father, and came to be called Isaac Newton. Mrs. Newton, a young widow was unfortunately left penniless, except for some property, a farm estate which was withering around her. Unable through the harsh winters and civil wars of the day to keep up the farm, she saw pending disaster. However, again God through providence came to her rescue. A bachelor minister in the town asked for her hand in marriage. Upon acceptance, he promised to restore the farm and estate and provide for young Newton who was three years old at the time. The only provision was she had to leave her son Isaac at the farm with his grandmother, and come live in town with the minister at the church parsonage. Well, she accepted and visited young Newton regularly during his growing years. During this time, young Isaac Newton was often alone, and as such became quite independent of other people. Naturally, he gravitated with great interest to the natural world around him. Newton took up making miniature working models of all things around him on the farm. His Uncles’ saw great promise in Newton and they suggested he attend grammar school at Grantham, a neighboring town.

So, Newton was sent now to live with a family friend who had a young daughter two years younger than him. Isaac Newton and she became the best of friends as Newton went to school there. Surprisingly, Newton had little desire for the formal schooling he received. He was always dreaming and investigating nature around him. Almost failing, and being a thin, frail and short young man, he became the taunt of school bullies. Well, one day Newton decided it was enough! He fought back and whipped a big thug, and this victory seemed to change his whole demeanor. Soon, Isaac realized he was failing in his school work, and determined to change that. With his will set to learning, surprisingly studying came easy for him. In no time, he became the head of the class.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Newton now Mrs. Smith, became a widow, and left the church parsonage moving back to the family estate and farm the preacher faithfully restored. In the process, she asked her oldest boy Isaac to come home and take up his father's trade of farming. Isaac was obedient, but quite crestfallen. He had to leave school which he now loved so much, but more he had to leave his treasured girlfriend, “Catherine.” Well, back on the farm Newton proved to fail to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead of diligently doing his chores, he would often be in the countryside dreaming about nature, the world around him and the many books he loved to read on the stars and universe. It wasn't long before his uncles told his mother to forget dreaming of him being a farmer. He was more suited for intellectual things.

Now it would do well to back track just a moment here. When Newton was a very young man, His mother and grandmother were faithful Christians who loved the Lord Jesus and His Word. Together they spent the time to bring young Newton up respecting the Bible, and taught him much of its teachings and truths. Isaac Newton came to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior at a young age and consequently he grew to rely upon Jesus Christ to teach him and care for him. Since, Isaac Newton was a lonely young man, who often felt orphaned, he clung closely to the Word of God and His Creator, Jesus Christ. Newton seriously studied the Bible and enjoyed it all the days of His life. What most interested young Newton was how many scientific truths were found there. In fact, in time he discovered many of the Bible’s truth, verifiable in the world around him.

Well one day a lucky break fell his way. Lucky of course is not a word in the Christian vocabulary; rather it was the providence of God. Well, Isaac Newton’s uncles decided that they would send him back to school to finish up, and then help him on his way to college. Young Newton was thrilled to again go back to the Kings School and again live with the pharmacist and his daughter Catherine. Her love was growing for Isaac, and it seemed his was for her too. Well Newton graduated with the highest honors and went on to Cambridge College . Unfortunately, while at school being a financially poor fellow, he had to work long and hard hours to stay there. During his spare time, if there was such a thing, Newton 's heart was always studying the world around him. Consequently his grades were poor, and his scholarship seemed never to amount to much. Yet during those college years, Newton studied deeply the things he chose and loved. Now without a doubt, his greatest love was still the Bible, God’s holy Word; So, Newton took to the classic languages. In time he mastered Latin, Greek and Hebrew. In fact, he became so proficient in them, that His knowledge of the Bible grew far above those who studied for the ministry at Cambridge . As he studied the Bible deeply, he learned that the whole creation was the magnificent work of an omnipotent eternal God. Listen to what Isaac Newton himself has written on some of these subjects. For instance, on the Lord of the heavens he writes: 

“This being, [called God], governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord of all ...”

On atheism he wrote:

“Atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance!”

On the solar system he later wrote,

" the motions of the planets require a Divine arm to impress them."

on the Bible itself he wrote this,

“I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by men who were inspired. I study the Bible every day."

Lastly, on God Himself Isaac Newton wrote,

" The true God is a living, intelligent and powerful being. His duration reached from eternity to eternity. His presence from infinity to infinity. There is but one God the same God always and everywhere. He is able to revive the dead. He has revived Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who has gone into the heavens to receive a kingdom and prepare a place for us."

Yes, Isaac Newton was not only a scholar, an inventor, an astronomer, a mathematician and scientist but first and foremost, a faithful believer and follower of Jesus Christ and the historic Christian faith. Through this faith, God gave him special abilities to discover the wonders of His Creation. Indeed, God endowed Newton with perhaps the greatest scientific mind that ever lived. Why do I say that? Well let's continue our biography of Isaac Newton.

Although Newton graduated Cambridge , it was not with honors. However, during his days there, Newton actually invented many things that were later to become marvelous tools and theories that have guided science to the place it is today. For instance, While a student at Cambridge , Newton longed to study the stars. He used the telescopes of his day which had an annoying ring of light around everything viewed through them. So, Newton began to explore light and color. Newton 's discoveries in optics were spectacular. He disproved the ancient theories of his day that sunlight was a pure color, and showed it was actually a mixture of light of all colors. He used prisms to discover what later became the foundation for the science of spectrum analysis, which science depends upon to this today. He also invented the first telescope that used reflected light. His scope was a mere six inches but it had the sharpness and power to see Jupiter, without the annoying ring of light. 

Interestingly, Newton was still a young man of twenty years of age, when some of his inventions and findings even proved Aristotle and others wrong. This youthful ability and knowledge infuriated older scientists who strongly condemned him and his work. This frustrated Isaac Newton who unfortunately was unable to endure the constant criticisms of his work. Although no one was able to refute his findings, which he based solely on experimental facts, Newton withdrew his studies for private use only. In fact, while the world was seeking to find out why the solar bodies travel in the universe in elliptical orbits, and how gravity affected things, Newton had quietly, twenty years before that, solved the mystery through a new form of mathematics he invented. He called his math “fluxions.”

This new math Isaac Newton invented, allowed him to calculate the pull of gravity on the planets and moon of the earth, so that he could scientifically explain the strange elliptical orbits. In fact, this new math Isaac Newton invented is today called “calculus.”  As long as science will be remembered, Isaac Newton will be too! From the invention of the reflecting telescope to calculus and the laws of gravity, Newton became the greatest thinker of his day. Men like Robert Boyle England greatest chemist, Edmund Hally the famous astronomer, Christopher Wren the famous architect and scientist, well all of them agreed Newton had no peers. Yet Newton when asked about his intentions, findings and discoveries, always gave God the credit. He said that since God created the universe it had to have order, and that there were no mysteries or magic in the universe, just laws and truths to be discovered as God gave mind to find them. To this day the laws of gravity Newton discovered, and how gravity holds the universe together, along with his famous three laws of motion, even in our day are used to accurately calculate the path of a rocket to the moon and back again.

Did you know that when the Apollo moon ship blasted away from the earth, Mission Control in Houston asked: “Who is doing the driving??” The answer came back from the space capsule, "Isaac Newton, sir!"

As time went on for Newton , he often kept his findings private, for fear of the jealousies of other scientists. Yet Edmond Hally, the astronomer, became his friend. As Halley looked around Newton 's laboratory, his eyes lit up everywhere he looked. Why Newton had studied things and mastered what many in his world were still asking questions about. When Halley asked Newton why he didn't share these things with the world, Newton simply shrugged his shoulders as if these findings were just simple thought. Yet that was what it was to Newton . Halley pleaded with Newton to gather all his notes and publish them in a book for the scientific world to have. Reluctantly he agreed, and Halley promised to foot the bill for it all. It took many years to write down all these findings, but the day came when Newton and Halley published the book which to this day is used scientifically worldwide. It was simply called “PRINCIPIA.” It is now considered the greatest single contribution in the history of all science! It included Newton 's findings of gravity and motion, and it was the first to contain a unified system of scientific principles explaining the material happenings on earth and in the heavens. Yes, from accurate sundial clocks, to telescopes, to specialized optics, Newton in time became one of the most respected men of science. Yet, his life was not without sorrow.

The time came in early years to marry his childhood sweetheart, Catherine. Yet at that moment he was offered a “chair” at Cambridge . To accept it, he had to remain a bachelor. Newton struggled with his desire to teach, study and learn, so he chose to give up his beloved Catherine for his greater love, science. Both broken hearted, went their own ways. Catherine married a fine man and settled down with a family. In time, Isaac Newton knew he had made a wrong choice, yet his independence held him together. He lived his whole life alone, yet found solace in an intimate relationship to Jesus Christ and the world around him which God gave Him the continuing wisdom to discover.

In addition to science, Isaac Newton was a tremendous Biblical scholar. He wrote many books on the Bible, studied the ancient timetables of creation and existence. More than 30 books with more than a millions words of notes on the Bible have been found written by Isaac Newton. Today more than 300 years later, the public is still finding out what he learned about God, His Word, and our world about us. Yes, Isaac Newton was indeed one of the greatest scientists, inventor, mathematician, astronomer, and Christian who perhaps has ever lived. However, we must note in closing, Newton never wanted fame or fortune. He wanted Jesus Christ to have that. He was simply a servant of the most high God doing what God had endowed him to do; that is to give glory to God through his talents, intellect, and spiritual gifts. Well, in the year 1705 A.D., his accomplishments became known worldwide, and Queen Anne of England knighted him, the first ever not for battlefield bravery, but for scientific achievement. At the age of eighty-five this man who started life on Christmas Day as a sickly boy, barely able to live, died with a full head of hair, sharp eyesight, and all his teeth save one. But most of all he died saved from his sins by his trust in Jesus Christ alone as His Savior and Lord, and upon death entered into his heavenly reward.

Isaac Newton was buried in a plot reserved for a king. In Westminster Abby, his body rests until the day Newton always talked about - the resurrection of the dead. Newton 's body rests, but Newton himself is alive and well in the New Jerusalem with His God and King, Jesus Christ. Today our world needs to remember that some of the greatest discoverers and minds history honors were indeed stalwart Christians, whose claim to fame was that God led them, guided them and revealed to them things that only God could know. Our Christian heritage is the greatest blessing our world can ever know. Yet greatness and acclaim in this life are worthless, unless our names are written in the “Lamb's Book of life.” Say, are you saved my friend, like Newton ? Do you know Jesus Christ personally? Have you received eternal life and the full final forgiveness of your sins? Isaac Newton's LAWS were just God's laws operating according to God's plan. Are you operating according to God's plan? God commands all men everywhere to repent and turn to Christ. The Bible Newton believed and studied still stands, and its message he accepted is yours today,

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." (Acts 16:31 )

That is the summation of Newton 's true greatness and yours. Isaac Newton is just another of great men of history, who simply yielded themselves to allowing God to use them to bring our world to its present place of science and technology. Don't think for a minute that one has to be an atheist to be a good scientist. In fact to be an atheist is to be a bad scientist, a blinded scientist, a prejudiced scientist, for all around us bears the unmistakable mark of a Creator, who is still operating His universe. To deny that, is perhaps the greatest sin an intellectual mind can commit. Today make sure you are not rejecting God and His Son Jesus Christ. Receive Him as your Lord and Savior and then explore His universe! The world is at your doorstep, and awaits your walk with the King.