The Joshua Victor Theory

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Early Christians found various ways to speak about the redemption that Jesus Christ won for mankind. They followed the descriptions in Scripture. “What was the center of Jesus’ redeeming work?”, they asked. Of course the cross of Jesus had to be central. But what exactly was happening there? A transaction? A tragedy? A judgment? A battle? An example? The most common description is that Jesus was our perfect, innocent substitute, facing God’s judgment against sin. A similar picture is Jesus as the ransom for our human bondage to sin. A third description found more in hymns than in theology books, is called the Christus Victor Theory . Christ is the Victorious champion who destroys sin, death, and the devil. It’s a more triumphal picture—but really all three images together describe facets of the one reality that Jesus has redeemed us from the power of sin, death, and the devil. One...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The city of Jerusalem has been a formidable stronghold for thousands of years. Even before King David captured it for the Israelites, over 3,000 years ago, it was an ancient fortress of the Jebusites. A city on a hill, it resisted the invasions and attacks of countless armies through history. Many kings mounted their forces against it and failed. Many also succeeded, as the city has fallen just as many times throughout history. It’s been a scene of warfare, of defense and offense, of siege, victory, and defeat, for thousands of years. Still today it’s contested land, and the Temple site that once was Jewish, is now covered by a Muslim mosque. But in the middle of all that tumultuous history, one king entered the city like none before or after Him. He came riding in on a borrowed donkey. But it wasn’t the donkey that made His entrance unique. Kings had ridden into Jerusalem on royal mules before, to be crown...