The first Great Awakening

According to Webster’s dictionary, revival means “to restore, refresh, or to return to life. Simply put, revival takes place when God’s people return to their previous relationship and commitment to God. When God sent a message to the Church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:4, He said “I have somewhat against you, that you have left your first love.” This has been the problem for individual Christians, Churches, as well as nations. From the years 1720 to 1750 America experienced a revival nationwide called the first Great Awakening. The early part of the revival was led by Gilbert and William Tennent. William Tennent founded a college in New jersey known as the Log college. This school was able to produce many Godly preachers who renewed Godly preaching in America. The two greatest preachers of the Great Awakening where Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. God gave Edwards a great intellect and He gave Whitefield a great ability in speaking. The key to the Revival was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Today people read the sermons of these great preachers, and remain unmoved. When Jonathon Edwards read his famous sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”, people were crying out for Spiritual help so loudly, he would have to stop speaking and ask someone to take them outside to help them deal with their need for Christ’s forgiveness. The Great Awakening had profound effects on America. First of all, about fifteen percent of the Colonial population was saved. That may not sound impressive, but if it happened in America in today’s population, that would be about 40 million people saved. There was a new interest in Missions in America after the revival. David Brainerd was perhaps the best known of this new wave of missionaries. More Christian colleges were founded and the teaching of Deism almost disappeared. Perhaps the greatest effect of the Awakening was the way it prepared our founding fathers. Most of the men who led our country to independence were in their formative years during the Great Awakening. Many of our Nations leaders were either saved or brought back to God just before the War for Independence. God knew we would need a strong Biblical foundation as we fought England and had to develop a new system of self government. America returned to its first love, and the great experiment of political, economic, educational, and religious freedom was allowed to continue.