When Christ Appeared

We are just finishing a long study of the book of Hebrews in our Wednesday night class. If I could somehow figure out how to get the Flash presentation into MPEG, AVI or WMV, I’d use this as my conclusion to the book. You need to take the time (8 minutes) to watch this video of Hebrews 9-10. There are no props or special effect. It is simply scripture quoted from memory... in a very dramatic way.

The presentation is by Ryan Ferguson. Ryan has memorized the entire book of Hebrews from the English Standard Version of the Bible, and he presented chapters 9-10 at the WorshipGod06 Conference hosted this past august by Sovereign Grace Ministries. Ryan is a member of North Hills Community Church in Greenville, South Carolina; he is the Manager of the Fine Arts Center at Anderson University and also serves as a director in the theater department. As you can tell, he is a very gifted presenter.

Ryan's "interpretation" of these two important chapters well sum up the message of Hebrews. During this time of year when we traditionally reflect on the birth of Christ, Hebrews helps to remind us what the birth of Jesus means. There was no mystical “peace on earth” that broke out because this baby was born; there was no magical armistice that ended all human conflict. Jesus came to be with us to show us the way that we can be with God. He came near to live as the perfect High Priest so He could die as the perfect sacrifice of atonement.

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12, ESV)