As we turn the page from 2024 to 2025, Christ Over All is giving thanks to God for countless blessings we enjoyed last year. In looking in the rear view mirror, we can celebrate twelve themes that ranged from the book of Hebrews, to other Great Books, and then from voting to God’s glory, to singing the praises of our Lord in, with, and through Handel’s Messiah.
In all, the Lord answered prayer and confirmed the work of our hands with 63 podcasts and 206 published articles. At the same time, the Lord raised up friends and supporters to help this ministry financially. When we celebrated our two year birthday, you gave and made it possible for us to enter the new year with fuel in the tank.
Indeed, as a ministry led by pastors and professors, we are grateful for partners who help us bring these resources to you and to equip the church with evergreen content that helps you engage culture today. Truly, as we look back at 2024, we praise God for his faithfulness, and we enter 2025 with prayerful excitement.
To that end, we invite you to join us for the journey. Over the next twelve months, as the Lord allows, we will take up these twelve themes.
- January 2025: The Image of God: In Scripture and Society
- February 2025: Whatever Happened to Sin?
- March 2025: The Ethics and Religious Liberties Conundrum
- April 2025: The Cross in the Old Testament
- May 2025: Speech: Sacred, Serrated, Simple, and Sanctified
- June 2025: The Paterfamilias: Making Fatherhood Great Again
- July 2025: The Nicene Creed: 1700 Years in the Making
- August 2025: The Gospels
- September 2025: The Doctrine of Vocation
- October 2025: Biblical Theology in the Balance
- November 2025: Do the Reading: Selections in Political Theology
- December 2025: Christmas Medley, Part 2
Already, we have authors and articles lined up for the first four months, along with scattered articles throughout the rest of the year. If you are interested in submitting something or if you have an article / podcast idea for a given month, let us know. We love getting feedback from our readers / listeners, and your comments help us gauge if, how, and where our work is hitting the mark.
In addition to online content, we have also enjoyed meeting many of you at various events throughout the last year. And in 2025, some of the Christ Over All team plans to be at the Founders National Conference (January in Florida), the Kings Domain Conference (May in Cincinnati), G3 National Conference (September in Atlanta), ETS (November in Boston), and one other soon-to-be announced pastor’s workshop at Occoquan Bible Church (in Northern Virginia in July). Long story short, as much we want to encourage you remotely, we are always delighted to meet like-minded brothers and sisters in person too. So, if you are at or near any of these events, please look us up.
Let me highlight what is coming next at Christ Over All, however, after tallying all pieces we published in December. Those articles on Handel’s Messiah are below (with the longform essays bolded).
Handel’s Messiah: Singing Scripture’s Hallelujah
- The Scriptures in Handel’s Messiah: An Overview by Esther R. Crookshank • Longform Essay • December 4 • Handel’s Messiah is the most famous oratorio ever written, and it tells a thrilling story.
- 3.62 “The Scriptures in Handel’s Messiah: An Overview” by Esther R. Crookshank • Longform Reading • December 5 • Handel’s Messiah is the most famous oratorio ever written, and it tells a thrilling story.
- Isaiah in Handel’s Messiah: A Desert Highway, a Contested Virgin, and a Zion-Sun Rising by Peter J. Gentry • Concise Article • December 6 • How do the selections of Isaiah in Messiah prophetically anticipate King Jesus?
- 3.63 “The Scriptures in Handel’s Messiah: An Overview” by Esther Crookshank, Stephen Wellum, David Schrock • Interview • December 9 • Listen in as David Schrock and Stephen Wellum interview Music professor Esther Crookshank on the circumstances surrounding this famous musical composition.
- But Who May Abide the Day of His Coming?: Handel’s Use of Haggai and Malachi in Messiah by Josh Philpot • Concise Article • December 9 •What will happen when the Messiah comes to earth?
- Setting our Affections on the Good News of Great Joy by Jim Knauss • Concise Article • December 12 • How can a familiar gospel passage bring us great joy this Christmas?
- 3.64 “Augustine’s The City of God and Why It Matters Today” by Brad Green, Stephen Wellum, David Schrock • Interview • December 9 • Listen in as David Schrock and Stephen Wellum interview Brad Green on his Christ Over All essay: “Augustine’s The City of God and Why It Matters Today.”
- An Interactive Edition of Handel’s Messiah by Chase Rea • Longform Essay • December 12 • Taste, see, and hear for yourself the glory of Christ in Handel’s Messiah.
- Psalm 22 in Handel’s Messiah by Jim Hamilton • Concise Article • December 13 • Charles Jennens, the text-selector of Handel’s Messiah, applied the agonies of Psalm 22 to Christ. Was he being sloppy with the Old Testament, or was he chasing down a thread of biblical theology?
- At Last, the King: Handel’s Messiah Sections 18–21 by Levi Secord • Concise Article • December 16 • There is an already, not-yet kingdom that will endure for eternity. Jesus Christ came as its king.
- The Servant of Servants: How All God’s Promises Will Be Yes by David Christensen • Concise Article • December 17 • Isaiah 53 describes the turning point of salvation history—and the turning point of Handel’s Messiah. How are all God’s promises guaranteed in Christ?
- My Whole Being Rejoices: The Resurrection in Handel’s Messiah by Godwin Sathianathan • Concise Article • December 18 • While we enjoy Handel’s Messiah at Christmastime, the Easter message of Christ’s resurrection is beautifully woven into its biblical selections.
- The Messiah and Psalm 22: A Carol of The King by Brad Baugham • Concise Article • December 19 • Do you hear that sound? It’s God’s Messiah King, screaming in the dark. Merry Christmas. It’s the carol of the King.
- Hell, Hallelujahs, and Beautiful Feet in Handel’s Messiah: Theological Reflections on Part II Scenes 2–7 by Toby Jennings • Concise Article • December 20 •Part II of Handel’s Messiah builds towards an exultant “Hallelujah!” What merits such praise?
- Profane Sacrilege or Redeemer’s Praise: John Newton on the Messiah and the 1784 Commemoration of Handel by Ben Purves • Longform Essay • December 23 • Find out why performances of Handel’s Messiah caused a stir of controversy in 1784.
- Handel’s Messiah: Worship, Worldliness, and the Way of True Praise by Bob Kauflin • Concise Article • December 23 •What happens when the Bible becomes mere entertainment? When non-Christians celebrate biblical music without any conviction or belief, how should Christians respond?
- 3.65 “Worship, Worldliness, and the Way of True Praise” and “Profane Sacrilege or Redeemer’s Praise” by Bob Kauflin, Ben Purves • Combined Reading • December 23 • Listen to a combined reading of Bob Kauflin and Ben Purves’ articles on the secular reception of Handel’s Messiah.
- Ascension in Messiah: Four Glorious Effects of Christ’s Heavenly Enthronement by David Schrock • Concise Article • December 24 •The ascension is a doctrine that should make our hearts sing and our souls pray. Consider its enormous theological implications with us in Messiah.
- Wedding Scripture and Song: Singing and Savoring Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” by Ardel Caneday • Concise Article • December 25 •The Hallelujah Chorus is the most famous section in the most famous oratorio . . . but what is it all about?
- The Triumph of the Messiah and the Hope of Resurrection: Handel’s Messiah, Part III by Alex Tibbott • Concise Article • December 27 •Why does the key of G-minor sorrow give way to D-major exultation? Because the divine Messiah, the Christ, has risen from Death’s hand victorious over sin and the grave!
- From Scripture to Song—A Guide for Musicians by Cody Curtis • Concise Article • December 30 • Handel’s Messiah is a beautiful example of setting the words of the Bible to music. How can Christian musicians today faithfully seek to do this well?
- 3.66 “Worship, Worldliness, and the Way of True Praise” by Bob Kauflin, Stephen Wellum, David Schrock • Interview • December 30 • Listen in as David Schrock and Stephen Wellum interview Bob Kauflin on his Christ Over All essay: “Worship, Worldliness, and the Way of True Praise.”
- Re-clothing Handel with the Truths of History In Order to Reclaim Him from the Hands of Queer Theory by Matt Wood • Concise Article • December 31 • Reality would like to have a word with those who seek to revise history by queering George Frideric Handel.
The Image of God in Scripture and Society
In January, we are kicking off the year by returning to one of the most basic and important concepts in the Bible—the Image of God. In Genesis 1:26 we read the words of God: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” And in next verse (Gen. 1:27), God says that he made them, male and female. Accordingly, in the first chapter of the Bible, we are presented with a fundamental truth about humanity—and one that undergirds everything else in Scripture and society.
Tragically, as our culture has abandoned its Christian heritage and denied God as creator of all things, the doctrine of humanity has suffered fiercely. Today, infants in the womb and octogenarians in the nursing home are equally in danger of being put to death through abortion and euthanasia, respectively. And in both cases the threat comes from not respecting the dignity of life conferred by being made in God’s image. If God is lost, so is the image of God, and when the image of God is lost in humanity, then the intrinsic value of humanity is lost too.
Countless ethical problems arise when the doctrine of humanity is discarded. And this month, it is our aim to stress humanity’s importance by way of rehabilitating the doctrine of the Imago Dei. Indeed, half of our articles will address doctrinal matters: What is the image of God? What does it mean to be embodied? How does Chalcedon’s Christology from 451 A.D. inform our theology of man? And how should we talk about human nature as male and female?
After establishing some theological foundations, we will tackle some of the thorny ethical issues of our day: What should Christians think about IVF (In Vitro Fertilization)? What is IVG (In Vitro Gametogenesis), and is it ethical? What about transhumanism or transgenderism? And should Christians be cremated, or only buried? And if buried, what role should churches play in providing cemeteries?
As you can see, the doctrine of humanity—along with its cornerstone, the imago Dei—touch every part of society. And in January, we are going to help Christians think more “Christianly” about these subjects. I hope you will join us for the journey.
Fuel For the Trip
Finally, if you have been helped by Christ Over All in 2024 and would like to help us continue to bring evergreen resources to the Church in 2025, consider giving a one-time gift as we start the new year. Consider it gas money. As we drive monthly conversations toward vital biblical, theological, and cultural themes, we are looking for cheerful givers to help put fuel in the tank.
Thus, if you like to help us make the journey in 2025, please consider giving a gift online or talking to us at Christ Over All to help us sustain and strengthen this ministry. As we increase our travels this year and look for ways to increase our offerings, we are in need of passengers and partners to help, so that we can continue to offer online resources for free.
Until next time, remember that Christ is over all, so in all things let us exalt Christ.
Soli Deo Gloria!
