"Not everyone that says To Me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 7:21, NKJV)
George Whitfield was an awesome man of God. He was an outstanding orator and evangelist, and he knew well that he had been given the very words of life that everyone in the world needed to hear. He had the Good News of Jesus Christ! He was born in England in 1714, but he is most famous for his preaching in the British colonies in America before there was such a thing as a country called The United States of America.
He made his second trip to America in1739 and his first day there he preached to six thousand in the morning and eight thousand that night. On the following Sunday he preached to fifteen thousand and he was just getting started! The eighteen months he was in the colonies, he traveled two thousand miles on horseback and another three thousand by boat. By the time he left America in 1741 he had visited over seventy-five cities and towns and had preached over 350 times.
“Everywhere he went, the message was the same–that people must choose to be ‘born again’ and must accept their new identity in Christ.”
“Because Presbyterians and Congregationalists and Quakers and Baptists and others all heard the same message and were free to respond similarly, Americans became inadvertently united by his preaching. People were offered a new identity that fit well with the American way of thinking. Some were German by background and some were French, and some were English, but none of it mattered; they were all equal under God, they were all believers in Jesus, and they were all born again. This was something new, an identity that was separate from one’s ethnicity or one’s denomination. To be part of the thirteen colonies now meant to buy into a new set of ideas about one’s equal status in God’s eyes–and by dint of this to be accepted into a new community, to be something new in history: in short, to be an American.” (7 More Men by Eric Metaxas, p.62-63)
What actually happened when he traveled around the colonies and preached in the various towns and cities? The first hand account of a farmer and carpender in Middleton, Connecticut, Nathan Cole, will give us a small glimpse of what happened all over America:
“As soon as I heard he was come to New York and the Jerseys and great multitudes flocking after him under great concern for their Souls and many converted which brought on my concern more and more hoping soon to see him but next I heard he was at Long Island, then at Boston, and next Northampton.
Then one morning all of a sudden, about 8 or 9 o’clock there came a messenger and said that Mr. Whitefield preached at Hartford and Weathersfield yesterday and is to preach at Middletown this morning (October 23, 1740) at ten of the Clock. I dropped my tool I had in my hand and ran home and run through my house and bade my wife get ready quick to go and hear Mr. Whitefield preach at Middletown…..I brought my horse home and soon mounted and took my wife up and went forward as fast as I thought the horse could bear, and when my horse began to be out of breath, I would get down and put my wife on the saddle and bid her ride as fast as she could and not stop or slack for me except I bade her, and so I would run until out of breath, and then mount my horse again…..all the while fearing we should be too late to hear the Sermon, for we had twelve miles to ride double in little more than and hour…
And when we came within half a mile of the road that comes down from Hartford Weathersfield and Stepney to Middletown; on high land I saw before me a Cloud or fog rising. ….I heard a noise something like a low rumbling thunder and presently found it was the noise of horses feet coming down the road and this Cloud was the Cloud of dust made by the horses feet…..I could see men and horses slipping along in the Cloud like shadows, and as I drew nearer it seemed to be like a steady stream of horses and their riders, scarcely a horse more than his length behind another, all of a lather and foam and sweat, their breath rolling out of their nostrils…;every horse seemed to go with all his might to carry his rider to hear news from heaven for the saving of Souls……I found a vacancy between two horses to slip in my horse;
We went down to the stream; I heard no man speak a word all the way three miles but everyone pressing forward in great haste and when we got to the old meeting house there was a great multitude; it was said to be 3 or 4000 of people assembled together; we got off our horses and shook off the dust, and the ministers were coming to the meeting house. …the land and the banks over the river looked black with people and horses all along the 12 miles. I saw no man at work in his field, all seemed to be gone.
When I saw Mr. Whitefield come upon the scaffold he looked almost angelical, a young, slim youth before some thousands of people with a bold undaunted countenance,and my hearing how God was with him every where as he came along it solemnized my mind, and put me into a trembling fear before he began to preach; for he looked as if he was clothed with authority from the Great God, and a sweet solemn solemnity sat upon his brow. And my hearing him preach gave me a heart wound; by God’s blessing my old foundation was broken up, and I saw that my righteousness would not save me.” (7 More Men by Eric Metaxes, chapter 2, pp.64-66)
During the year and a half that Whitefield was in the American colony, thousands of men and women had their lives turned upside down and gave their lives to Christ and were born again just like Nathan Cole. Oh, that we had another Whitefield to come and preach to us today! But we can rejoice that we have the same gospel available to all who will hear and respond to God’s voice when they hear God’s Word preached faithfully and when we read the Scriptures for ourselves! How about you? Have you repented of your sin and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? You can do it right now and you too can have your name written in the Lamb’s Book of life today!
“For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved.’” (Romans 10:11-13, NKJV)
Pray:
Thank you Lord for sending men like George Whitefield to us and for thousands of people to come to know You as their Lord and Savior.
Thank you that You have already paid the price at Calvary and we need only to accept the free gift of salvation for our sins and be born again as new creations.
Help me today to remember what You have done for me and to live this day for You and be faithful as You send me to minister to others needs.
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