FREE AT LAST

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

Today is Martin Luther King Day, our national holiday to commemorate the birth of the great civil rights leader, born this day in 1929. Interestingly, Dr. King’s birth certificate records his name as Michael King Jr., named after his father, Michael King Sr., a fellow Baptist pastor. King Sr. changed his and his son’s name to Martin Luther King in 1934 in honor of the famous Protestant reformer Martin Luther.

The high mark of Martin Luther King’s work as a civil rights leader was his famous 1,667-word “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. Over a quarter million people lined the Reflecting Pool to hear King’s moving oratory. Most of his speech was a compilation of previous speeches, however, when he came to the “I Have a Dream” section, King departed from his prepared text to improvise that words that have now become one of the greatest pieces of oratory of the twentieth century.

Much of the language of Dr. King’s famous speech has biblical themes; two verses are directly quoted (Amos 5:24; Isaiah 40:4-5), and two are indirectly alluded to (Psalm 30:5; Galatians 3:28). One of the speech’s most significant themes is the line “Free At Last.” Freedom and liberty are prominent theological themes in the scriptures. From the actual physical freedom of the Israelites from Egypt as recorded in Exodus to the spiritual freedom from sin, God has always desired His human creation to live in liberty (John 8:36).

The Book of Romans has been called the Magna Carta of Christianity because of its deep theological teachings; Paul’s epistle has much to say about sin and freedom. Consider the binding action of sin and iniquity (Romans 6:6; 7:23) and the freedom from that bondage by the vicarious death of Christ (Romans 6:17-22). But spiritual liberty has it responsibilities---as free, we are not allowed use our liberty to deceive or take advantage of others (1 Peter 2:16).  And so we, as blood-bought believers can repeat Martin Luther King’s iconic words from his most famous speech, “Free at last.” Think about it.