In 1963, during a peaceful march on Washington, DC, Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech. He eloquently called for freedom to ring from every mountaintop across the nation. The cost to him personally and to those who joined his peaceful resistance movement was steep, but real change soon began. God used that speech to awaken the conscience of the US to fight for the freedom of the oppressed and downtrodden.

In the 8th century BC, amid personal and national injustice, the prophet Isaiah was used by God to awaken the conscience of His people. Their convenient spirituality had led them to violence and insensitivity toward their fellow humans. God’s people were oppressing the poor and substituting religious practices for genuine righteous living (vv.1-5). God indicted them (v.1) and prescribed spiritual living that would be expressed through turning to God in genuine repentance and setting people free (vv.6-12).

Like Isaiah, we have been sent to let freedom ring. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we must proclaim that the captives can be released, that the downtrodden can be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.  — Marvin Williams