John Mark Hicks

John Mark Hicks walks through the contrast between old and new, between chaos and order, between disruption and renewal, between evil and intimacy with God. The hope of the Christian faith is to enjoy God who dwells with new humanity in a new heaven and new earth. This is the inheritance of the Abrahamic promise […]

“Peace upon Israel!” is how Psalm 125 concludes. This is God’s goal for those who trust in the Lord, whose hearts are oriented toward righteousness, and walk in the paths of God’s goodness. The promise is that God will remove all wickedness and injustice, and those who trust in the Lord will inherit the land. […]

Psalm 105–part of the “mini-Bible” (Psalms 103-107)–sings God’s praise for how God’s steadfast love revealed itself in God’s history with Abraham, Joseph, Moses & Aaron, and their journey to Sinai. God is a covenant keeper; and God entered into an everlasting covenant with Abraham that would identify Israel as God’s own possession (chosen ones), multiply […]

Hebrews 12:1-17 Lesson 21: Run the Race with Perseverance Hebrews 12:1-17 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer […]

The Ray Evans Seminar, an annual event at the Alameda Church of Christ in Norman, Oklahoma, was held March 31-April 2, 2017. The general topic was Embracing Creation, which is also the title of the book I co-authored with Bobby Valentine and Mark Wilson. The book is available here. I gave six presentations as well […]

Elect exiles. Scattered across the Roman provinces of modern Turkey, these Christians are called “exiles” due to their social dislocation within a culture hostile to their new way of life. Though “exiles,” they are nevertheless elect. But for what or to what are they elected? What does this election mean? In part, it means they […]

Inheritance (or, possession) occurs fifty times in the book of Joshua, and everyone of them, except for five (11:23; 23:4; 24:28,30,32), occur in chapters 12-21. Further, the verb “to possess or inherit” occurs nine times in Joshua, eight times in Joshua 13-21. So, fifty-three of the fifty-nine occurrences of this word group occur in Joshua […]

[An audio version of this is available here.] Contemporary visitors to Palestine rarely, if ever, find the Jordan River imposing. It seems relatively shallow, not very wide, and quite calm.  Wading across does not seem like much of a problem–except that it would take one from the modern state of Israel into the modern state […]

While the first half of Micah’s first oracle assured Judah that God was serious in treating them much like he did their northern neighbor Israel. Yahweh, Micah warned Judah, is about to appear at the gates of Jerusalem with the Assyrian army after they devastate the cities of southwestern Judah. In response to the message, […]

[Genesis 15 is one of the Lenten texts in the Lectionary this week. Studying and reflecting on this text, I developed an expanded narration. I offer it here in preparation for my Lenten reflections on the this text which I hope to post mid-week. Blessings.] Text: Genesis 15:1-18 After these things….after Lot had separated from […]