Christus Victor: The Kingdom Breaking In

The readings for the third Sunday of Advent present a unified vision: Christ the Victor has come, is coming, and will come again. Isaiah proclaims the triumph that transforms all creation. James calls us to patient endurance as we live between Christ’s victory won and glory revealed. Matthew shows us Jesus pointing to the very signs Isaiah promised, answering John’s doubt with evidence of the kingdom breaking in.

The Victor Proclaimed (Isaiah 35:1-10)

Isaiah’s vision is cosmic in scope. The wilderness blooms, the desert streams with water, the weak are made strong, and the fearful are told: “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you” (Isaiah 35:4).

Then come the signs of salvation’s arrival: the eyes of the blind opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame leaping like a deer, and the tongue of the mute singing for joy (Isaiah 35:5-6).

This is not mere restoration but re-creation. God is not patching up a broken world; He is making all things new – though humanity still bound to the old creation has not yet experienced the fullness of this re-creation. The ransomed of the Lord return to Zion with singing, everlasting joy upon their heads, sorrow and sighing fleeing away (Isaiah 35:10).

This is Christus Victor: the divine warrior who comes to conquer evil, defeat death, and restore creation to its intended glory.

Living Between Victory and Glory (James 5:7-10)

James writes to believers who know Christ has won but still suffer in this present age. The tension is palpable: we confess “Jesus is Lord,” yet we groan under the weight of the old creation. We believe death is defeated, yet we bury our loved ones. We proclaim the kingdom has come, yet injustice still rages.

“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7). James does not minimize the suffering but anchors hope in Christ’s certain return. Like a farmer waiting for the harvest, we wait for the full manifestation of what Christ has already accomplished.

Then James gives us a model: “As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord” (James 5:10). The prophets proclaimed Isaiah’s vision of triumph, yet they suffered persecution and did not see its fulfillment in their lifetimes. They lived between promise and fulfillment, trusting God’s Word even when circumstances screamed otherwise.

This is the shape of the Christian life. We are justified, declared righteous by faith alone in Christ’s finished work. Yet we are still being sanctified, conformed to Christ’s image through suffering. Our patient endurance does not earn salvation; it flows from the assurance that Christ has already secured it and from the Spirit’s ongoing work within us. We wait not in uncertainty but in confident hope, knowing the Victor has already won the decisive battle.

The Victor Revealed (Matthew 11:2-11)

John the Baptist sits in Herod’s prison, and questions arise in his mind. This is the forerunner who leaped in the womb at Jesus’s presence, who baptized the Messiah, who proclaimed Him the Lamb of God. Yet now, in chains, John sends messengers to ask: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3).

Like us, John lived in the tension. He believed Jesus was the Messiah, yet his circumstances seemed to contradict that belief. Where was the promised judgment? Where was the kingdom’s triumph?

Jesus’s answer is not a rebuke but a redirection to Isaiah’s prophecy: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them” (Matthew 11:4-5).

Connecting Isaiah and Matthew: The Signs of the Victor

Jesus is not asking John to trust despite the evidence but to see the evidence rightly. Faith is not blind; it rests on the objective reality of God’s Word and works. Jesus points John to the signs themselves, the very proofs Isaiah promised would accompany the Messiah’s coming. The signs Isaiah promised are happening. Every opened eye, every healed body, every resurrection is not merely an act of compassion, these are acts of warfare against Satan, flesh, sin, and death. The powers of the age to come have invaded this present evil age. Every miracle is a blow against the curse, a preview of creation’s final restoration. The kingdom of heaven has broken in. Christus Victor is not merely future hope, He is present reality.

The kingdom is inaugurated but not yet consummated. The Victor has landed on the beaches, secured the beachhead, and guaranteed the outcome. But the final battle still rages until He returns in glory.

Jeremy Miller

Church Elder