A Great Awakening

A Great Awakening - A Review

George Whitefield on the court house Balcony in "A Great Awakening"

In the late 1980's and early 90s, David Mains, host of "The Chapel of The Air", (a brief, daily Christian radio broadcast) did a series on revival. His message was so clear and he repeated the point so many times, I can remember to this day how he defined revival: "The overwhelming sense of the presence of God."[1] That sense, when it falls on God's people who have become lethargic in the faith, following a religion with little or no expression in life, going through the motions of a religious life robotically with no feeling or emotion; when such experience an awakening, they manifest one or a number of profound changes when the presence of God is felt.

According to Revival Comes To Wales[2], the types of changes seen when the presence of God is sensed include:

"A spirit of prayer and supplications soon characterized the church members"
"...the desire of two or three to join with them in fellowship. This stirred them to seek God with renewed zeal."
"The convictions were more power to awaken the conscience, smiting the heart, and the outbursts of the joy of salvation more powerful than were seen in some previous revivals."
"An unusual phenomenon in this revival was the 'singing in the air' which many reliable witnesses had heard. The sound of heavenly, angelic voices, sweetly and softly joined in harmony, without any apparent melody, was overpowering."
"One outstanding characteristic of the Beddgelert Revival, says Henry Hughes, 'was that the preaching of the gospel had a prominent, indeed a predominant, place in it. In one revival, the most prominent feature is the prayer meeting; in another, it is the singing which has most influence; but it was the preaching which had the leading part in this revival.'"

In the 2026 movie A Great Awakening, it is this last item, the preaching of the word, which is also prominent. But it is the means of delivery of that word that captures your attention, startles your senses, brings you to sharp attention, and causes you to feel what those hearing the original sermons likely felt, when preached using the power of the voice and skilled delivery of the great preacher featured in this movie: George Whitefield (pronounced Wit-field).

If revival entails an overwhelming sense of the presence of God, a large part of that sensing, according to A Great Awakening, was the power of the voice that delivered the message, which at times, literally thundered. In this movie, the thundering was likely due to modern audio special effects, but given the testimony of those who heard the singing of angelic voices in previous revivals, is not out of the realm of possibility for those who actually heard Whitefield.

The movie opens on a scene at the American Constitutional Convention in 1787, ten years after the adoption of the Articles of Confederation, but prior to the signing of the Constitution in September of that year. A sufficient amount of time is spent in the opening scenes of the movie on the arguments of the delegates at the convention to make me wonder if I was in the right theatre watching the movie I expected to see. But the context of the constitutional convention and the initial problems of the founding of America as a separate, independent, free nation is necessary to demonstrate the wisdom and wit of the other main character in the movie: Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin is the voice of reason in the movie. He is shown giving advice to the delegates of the convention, George Washington, to the King of England via Admiral Howell who will take Franklin's word back to him, and, of course to thousands, perhaps millions via his newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette, and his almanac Poor Richard's Almanac written under the pen name of Richard Saunders, one of many pseudonyms Franklin adopts. (Franklin adopts pen names of both sexes, depending on his purpose, for example Mrs. Silence Dogood).

We see the early years of both, with Whitefield training originally to be an actor, then his years of formal training at Oxford under the difficult conditions of being a servitor. But those years allowed him to perfect his ability to speak well, while the years of training as an actor taught him to speak with power and to project his voice powerfully.

We see Franklin as a young child, gifted and blessed, perhaps because as the tenth of seventeen children, his father considers him to be a "tithe to God" and wants him to be a preacher. But rebellious Ben will have no part of that. He is not interested in God at that point and does not want to be like other "half-wit" preachers. So his father allows Ben to go to his brother James, there to work in James' print shop where he learns the printing business.

The film traces their progress, one who becomes as the voice of God; the other as the voice of reason. Whitefield, though kicked out of the Church of England for preaching the truth powerfully, and not following the dictates of the church, heads to America where he gains great notoriety and begins preaching to crowds of literally thousands.

Franklin hears of it, and as Whitefield is good for selling papers, keeps people abreast of where Whitefield is going, but is skeptical of claims of him preaching to, and heard by up to 25,000 people.

When Whitefield arrives at Philadelphia and Franklin can see him for himself, he hears the power of the voice, and sees the impact of his presence and words for himself, he goes around the city to determine from how far away Whitefield could be heard. By his own calculations, Whitefield could be heard by 30,000 from his perch atop of the courthouse building, speaking of course, without amplification in those days.

Franklin seeks Whitefield out to partner with him — to print his whereabouts and sermons. Whitefield immediately sees the benefit and agrees. But Franklin, while a believer in God, was clearly not a Christian. He demonstrated that fact clearly by his system of "virtue" (not the Christian kind), and his repeated refusal to believe no doubt increasingly vexed Whitefield likely in a manner similar to how the slave girl in Macedonia who had a spirit by which she predicted the future, who followed the apostle Paul and his companions around shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." (Acts 16.16-17) troubled the apostle Paul.

At one point the apostle was so troubled, he performed what was likely the quickest exorcism - apart from the ones performed by Jesus - commanding the spirit to leave the girl. (Acts 16.18) In the movie, Franklin's refusal to come to God amid the thousands of others who were moved by Whitefield's sermons and streaming to God, led to a great confrontation. Franklin has up to this time used his pithy sayings to brush aside appeals to believe the faith. Finally Whitefield confronts him:

Whitefield: "How long will you hide behind your wit? A judgment day is coming!"
Franklin: "I chose evidence over faith. ... I have never tried to change you. I would appreciate it if you would stop trying to change me."

Franklin does eventually have a renewal, but the question is to what? Was it to Christianity? That is a question for the ages - since no one but he and the Lord knows.

In passing we see the Wesley brothers, but the focus of the film is on Whitefield and the power of his voice and preaching. It's well worth seeing and experiencing - the film does a good job of replicating what was likely the experience of those who heard him, and so is worth seeing for that experience alone - though we also get glimpses of his sermons and the power behind his words.

Arise O sleeper! Awaken! And see A Great Awakening!

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Duane Caldwell | April 26, 2026
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Notes

1. While recordings of David Main's Chapel of the Air messages on revival have been difficult to locate (if they still exist) his teaching on Revival being "an overwhelming sense of the presence of God" is captured in summary form by Churchawakening.com in this pdf titled "Historical Revival", accessed 4/21/26 archive
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2. Eifion Evans, Revival Comes to Whales, Bryntirion, Bridgend, UK: Evangelical Press of Wales, 1986 (Third Edition), pp.14-15
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