John Mark Hicks

One of David Lipscomb’s incessant emphases was that the poor were God’s special concern.  The Cholera Epidemic of 1873 provided an opportunity for the church to serve the sick, dying, and needy, especially among the poor which included the African-American community. In 1873 the population of Nashville was 25,865. Cholera first appeared in 1873 in […]

The Magnificat “My Soul Magnifies the Lord” Luke 1:46-55 This song has been used by the church, almost daily, since the late fourth century. It has been sung, prayed and preached for centuries. In the text of Luke, it is one of three songs. The other two are by Elizabeth (1:42-45) and Zechariah (1:68-79). Mary’s […]

A “God of technicalities”? The first article I ever published in academia was “The Sabbath Controversy in Matthew: An Exegesis of Matthew 12:1-14″ which appeared in the Restoration Quarterly 27.2 (1984) 79-91. I have now uploaded this on my Academic page. At some point in the future, I may reflect in personal terms on how that study subsequently impacted […]

[My book on the Shack is now available on Kindle.] I now come to the third theme in The Shack that I find both emotionally and theologically compelling. The first theme is God’s total delight in and fondness for his children no matter what their shacks look like.  The second theme is that trusting in God’s goodness and loving purposes […]

In stark contrast with the Uzzah story in 1 Chronicles 13, I do not remember any lessons on Hezekiah’s Passover in 2 Chronicles 30 in my younger years growing up in Churches of Christ. There may have been some but they did not make an impression on me that I can remember. The Uzzah example, […]

Forgive the length of this post, but this is material adapted here from my commentary on 1 & 2 Chronicles. Tomorrow I will reflect on the text in connection with its usage among Churches of Christ.  But today it is the hard–sometimes boring–work of exegesis.     *****************************   The Chronicler moves from enthronement of […]

Text: Luke 15 Who would not want to party with God? Can we even imagine a scenario in which we would turn down a party invitation from God? One of my favorite expressions in Scripture describes how God delights in his people and rejoices over his people (e.g., Zephaniah 3:17). This unveils the heart of […]