A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God

It is December of the year 1734 in Northampton, MA.  The town has been in existence for about 82 years and it consists of about 200 families. Toward the middle of the month they began to experience revival, which we have defined as an unusual manifestation of the presence and power of God, during which time believers are transformed and many unconverted people enter into new life.  

No human being planned out in advance what was going to happen in 1734-35 in colonial Massachusetts.  There were no special meetings or techniques to get the thing started.  No one but God knew in advance that it was going to happen.  It was, in the words of pastor Jonathan Edwards, a “Surprising Work of God.”

While the revival was unplanned, it was not completely unexpected.  Their understanding of Bible prophecy led them to believe that waves of revival should be a normal part of church life and that the closer they got to the second coming, that the revivals would become more and more powerful.  In the past 57 years their church had experienced five such visitations of God.

These five awakenings had taken place during the ministry of Edward’s grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, who began his ministry in 1671 and continued until his death in 1729.  For a 65 year old person in 1734 this would be their sixth experience of revival.

We are dependent on the pastor’s description for our knowledge of this revival.  The book, which was really a long letter he had written for some friends who wanted an account of the revival, was sent to some friends in New England, who forwarded it to people in England, who went ahead and published it as a book.  I don’t know if the final title was written by Edwards or by these friends in England, but here is the full title in all of its Puritan glory:  “A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of Many Hundred Souls in Northampton.”

As an interesting historical side note, one of the English clergymen responsible for the publication of the letter is the famous writer of hymns, Issac Watts.  He is the author of “Joy to the world.”

I’ll be quoting from Edward’s book throughout this presentation, so whenever my words sound like something from the King James Bible, you can be sure I’m quoting Edwards.

Now if no human being planned this or was in control of it, how did they know that a revival had started.  Let’s go back to our definition:  an unusual manifestation of the presence and power of God in which believers are transformed and unbelievers come to new life in Christ.  This sounds very much like Edwards description.  He said that the Spirit of God “began extraordinarily to set in;” that’s the manifestation of His presence.  And Edwards also wrote that the Spirit began to “wonderfully work amongst us,” as five or six people were suddenly converted.

One of the conversions was of a woman who was a notorious “company-keeper.”  I don’t know exactly what Edwards meant, but I get the sense that we might call her a “party girl.”  Now to 21st Century ears that might create a mental picture of someone attending some sort of orgy, but this was a deeply religious community so that probably isn’t what Edwards was talking about.  He is probably using old time language to describe a frivolous woman who wanted to dance, and play games, and gossip and maybe every once in a while have one or two beers too many with her friends.  She would have been someone who had little or no interest in spiritual things.  Edwards describes her conversion as “a glorious work of God’s infinite power” a “new heart, truly broken and sanctified.”

The influence of this particular conversion story was profound.  Edwards believed that it had a more powerful spiritual impact than any other event associated with the revival.  “The news of it seemed to be almost like lightning upon the hearts of young people all over town.”

The impact eventually spread throughout the town.  “Religion and the eternal world” became the only things that people wanted to talk about.  “All other talk but about spiritual and eternal things was soon thrown by.”  This was true among all people of all age groups and backgrounds.  

The focus on eternal salvation became so intense that some who visited the town started rumors and people were so focussed on eternity that they were not taking care of essential business.  They said that the people in Northampton were completely focussed on “reading and praying, and such like religious exercises.”

Edwards refuted that, saying that people were doing what needed to be done to take care of “their ordinary secular business.”  They made sure businesses stayed open and food was on the table, but as soon as their business was taken care of the focus of their conversation would return to eternity and the salvation of the soul.  Talk about anything else “would scarcely be tolerated in any company.” 

The only thing that people really cared about was to get into “the kingdom of heaven … every one appeared pressing into it.”

It is almost impossible for us to imagine such a scene, but it’s important that we try.  Imagine yourself getting up in the morning and going to breakfast.  Everyone in the family is talking about Jesus and eternal salvation.  As you drive into work you tune into the local talk radio station.  The hosts and all of the callers are talking about Jesus.  At work people take care of business, but on lunch break all the talk is about religion.  If there is a meeting at a local church that evening people are telling each other about it.  If there are no formal church meetings people are making arrangements to gather together in private homes for the reading of the Bible, prayer, testimonies, and the singing of hymns.  When you arrive at the private home for your evening meeting the place is packed out.  In the words of Jonathan Edwards, such home meetings were “greatly thronged.”  They went on “from day to day for many months together.”

Try to imagine living through something like that.  And then ask yourself these questions with fear and trembling.  

Was there perhaps a divine purpose in letting the world go through a pandemic during which a vast majority of the population learned how to attend online meetings?

How quickly could this divine wild-fire spread in the age of the internet?