A Man Consumed With Love For God

Have you heard about Jonathan Edwards before? If you haven’t, he was a theologian of the First Great Awakening. Jonathan Edwards was brilliant, but his brilliance didn’t appear out of nowhere. He had to have education, years of working at his job definitely helped, and his legacy shows the lasting effects of his ministry.
Born in 1703 in East Windsor, Connecticut, Edwards grew up in a Godly family. Jonathan Edwards was also very smart. So smart, that he entered Yale before he was thirteen and graduated when he was 17, in 1727. That was pretty young! After he graduated, Edwards decided to become a minister.
During Edwards’ career, the church was in a state of deadness. Edwards, being the pastor of a Congregationalists Church in Northampton, Mass., had to preach and try to fix that deadness. In 1734, he was preaching on the justification of faith, and even he was surprised in how many converts there were. This awakening caused a change in the church, and the town. He was a pretty powerful preacher.
Even after Jonathan Edwards’ death, he left behind 25,000 to 50,000 people out of 300,000 people as new members in the church. He also left his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Throughout his life, Jonathan Edwards preached to and encouraged many people. The town he left felt the presence of God.

Jonathan Edwards was a man consumed with love for God. He grew up very smart and his career was intense. All of that work he has done for the Lord makes one great legacy. The book, “The Church In History”, says that, “…Jonathan Edwards was the outstanding intellectual figure in Colonial America, and one of the greatest minds America has ever produced” (Kuiper, 1964, 345). By Abby Owens