I was just talking to my mum about a family member who had recently been confirmed in the Lutheran Church. And my mum said… I don’t know why some Churches don’t do the full immersion while others do?
Anyway, the conversation led to the Jewish Mikvah. My mum had never heard about it before. So, off to goolge I go and found a little something about the Mikvah. What I found interesting is the fact that the Mikvah was a purification immersion and it is basically a cleansing a defiled person who has been in contact with the dead.
Aren’t we considered dead before we become born again?
Notice that the Mikvah meant that you could not participate in the Holy Temple unless the deadness had been washed away. I thought that was an interesting shadow of the fulfilment in Christian baptism.
Main article: Mikvah
Although the term "baptism" is not used to describe the Jewish rituals, the purification rites (or mikvah – ritual immersion) in Jewish laws and tradition have some similarity to baptism, and the two have been linked In the Jewish Bible and other Jewish texts, immersion in water for ritual purification was established for restoration to a condition of "ritual purity" in specific circumstances. For example, Jews who (according to the Law of Moses) became ritually defiled by contact with a corpse had to use the mikvah before being allowed to participate in the Holy Temple. Immersion is required for converts to Judaism as part of their conversion. Immersion in the mikvah represents a change in status in regards to purification, restoration, and qualification for full religious participation in the life of the community, ensuring that the cleansed person will not impose uncleanness on property or its owners Num. 19 and Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chagigah, p. 12). This change of status by the mikvah could be obtained repeatedly, while Christian baptism is, like circumcision, unique and not repeatable. John the Baptist adopted baptismal immersion as the central sacrament in his messianic movement. Baptism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
We are walking corpses until we have been born of the Spirit and Water. Jesus says…
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God!
Does the above verse actually mean baptised in the Spirit and water baptism?
What do you think?
Oh, and this is interesting…
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.
Oh, and this is interesting too…
Some, such as a Zav, however require "living water," such as springs or groundwater wells. Living water has the further advantage of being able to purify even while flowing as opposed to rainwater which must be stationary in order to purify. [source]
The living water was required as it is written Lev 15:13
It just amazes me at how Jewish Jesus was!
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