Experiencing Who We Are
(Part I)

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A drunk staggered upon a baptismal service on Sunday afternoon down by the river. He proceeded to walk down into the water and stood next to the Preacher. The minister turned and noticed the old drunk and said, "Mister, Are you ready to find the Savior?" The drunk looks back and says, "Yes, Preacher. I sure am." The minister then dunked the fellow under the water and pulled him right back up. "Have you found the Messiah, the Redeemer?" the preacher asks. "No, I didn’t!" says the drunk. The preacher then dunks him again, holding him under for quite a bit longer, brings him up and says, "Now, brother, have you found Him?" "No, I did not Preacher." The preacher in disgust holds the man under for at least 30 seconds this time brings him out of the water and says in a harsh tone, "Friend, are you sure you haven’t found the Savior yet?" The old drunk wipes his eyes and says to the preacher,"Are you sure this is where he fell in?"

It is easy to see that this fellow didn’t know what he had gotten himself into. This drunk is not alone.

There are many people who don’t understand what baptism is all about. The purpose of this teaching is to expose the truth of the Scriptures about Baptism and clear the waters, so to speak, concerning this often-misunderstood subject. Though we might think we know all about this topic, this well is much deeper (no pun intended) than it looks.

In our western culture, when we need to understand a word, we turn to a dictionary. Well, the American Heritage Dictionary, found online at www.dictionary.com, says that baptism is “a religious sacrament marked by the symbolic use of water and resulting in admission of the recipient into the community of Christians. It is a ceremony, trial, or experience by which one is initiated, purified, or given a name.”

It's settled. The dictionary says that baptism is a Christian event; a sacrament with water. Scholars, educators, and our western culture identify only Christianity with this subject. The same dictionary defines a sacrament as a “religious rite ordained by the Roman Catholic Church that confers sanctifying grace.” Baptism is a cornerstone of all Christian sects. Some sprinkle, others immerse, and many groups christen children or infants. Yet, what does the Bible teach about this subject? Is baptism solely a New Testament idea?

Our Real Hebrew Roots
The word baptism comes to the English language from the Greek word “baptizos,” which means to “wash or immerse.” This Greek concept is derived from the Hebrew term “t’vilah.” Does this mean that baptism is really a Hebrew concept?

Yes, before John the Baptist came preaching “repent and be baptized,” immersion was already an accepted practice in the life of the Hebrew people. As John the Baptist stood in the Jordan River, he wasn’t doing anything radical or new. T’vilah (immersion) was part of the Biblical faith before Messiah came. Judaism today continues to use immersion. This proves that baptism is not just as a sacrament ordained by the Roman church, but an action commanded by the Scriptures. We’ll learn that t’vilah is in essence a gateway into being kedusha or set apart.

T’vilah is the physical act of immersing into a body of moving water, called a “mikvah” in Hebrew. The Encyclopedia Judaica says that a mikvah is a, “a collection of water, a pool or bath of clear water, immersion in which renders ritually clean a person who has become ritually unclean through contact with the dead (Num. 19) or any other defiling object, or through an unclean flux from the body (Lev. 15) and especially a menstruant. It is similarly used for vessels (Num. 31:22–23).” These terms, mikvah and t’vilah, will be used interchangeably throughout this teaching to connotate immersion.

Our Dictionary: the Torah
To learn more about this topic let’s consult the only true authority, the Holy Scriptures. As Hebrews, let’s look to our dictionary, the Torah, to learn exactly what t’vilah / immersion is. We’re not going to look directly to John the Baptist in the New Testament, but to the many places immersion is found throughout the Tanakh, starting in the book of Genesis.

In this study, we will learn

*mikvah is not a once in a lifetime event, but an action to be experienced over and over again.

*the power of immersion cleanses the spiritually unclean and thus bring about healing and restoration.

There are some powerful insights about immersion to be learned, so let’s fasten our life preservers and dive in!

Let’s begin with understanding that the main purpose of immersion into water is not physical cleanliness, though that does play a part in Scriptural t’vilah. The most important reason we have been called to t’vilah is to reinforce the Bible’s message of separation. As Hebrews we have been called out of darkness into the Light of YHWH. He was called us as His own precious people. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to Elohim, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light,” – Kefa Aleph / I Peter, chapter 2

We are set apart, to YHWH, as His children. He has called us to set ourselves apart in this world, through our actions. As we choose to obey His Torah and thus replicate His will, we set ourselves apart unto Him. The Messianic Writings say, “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Master. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says YHWH Almighty,” 2 Corinthians 6:17-18. Immersion is a “procedure” that sets us apart as holy to YHWH. We will undergo the physical act of being baptized as we make Scriptural decisions that validate our desire to live as a holy nation.

The First Baptism
The earth was immersed in the beginning. As part of creation, the Almighty immersed the world in water. “Elohim said, Let the mayim (waters) under the Shamayim (heavens) be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And the mayim under the shamayim gathered to their gatherings and the dry land appeared. And Elohim called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the mayim He called Seas: and Elohim saw that it was tov(good). And Elohim said, Let the earth bring out grass, the herb yielding zera, and the fruit eytz (tree) yielding fruit after its kind, whose zera (seed) is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought out grass, and herb yielding zera after its kind, and the eytz yielding fruit, whose zera was in itself, after its kind: and Elohim saw that it was tov,”

-- Beresheet / Genesis 1: 8-12.

Believe it or not, there is a baptism in these verses! The Hebrew word often translated “gathering the waters” or “gathered to their gatherings” in Beresheet / Genesis 1: 9 is actually “mikvah.” The place where the waters gathered was a mikvah, or a “gathering of moving waters that renders a ritually unclean person clean.” New life sprung forth after the waters were gathered into a mikvah.

Also in Beresheet the Torah says, “the Ruach (Spirit) of Elohim moved upon the face of the mayim (waters)". The Sages of Judaism, of blessed memory, teach us that when YHWH hovered over the waters in Genesis, He impregnated the waters and the creation was birthed from this action of hovering. “Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen,” -- Iyov / Job, chapter 38 shows the basis for this imagery.

From these examples we can see that the waters of mikvah act as a womb. Then and now, as we obey the Scriptures and are immersed, YHWH hovers over us and brings forth Spiritual life! When we rise from the waters, we are born anew.

This is repeated in the birth of Messiah Yahshua. The Spirit hovered over Miriam (Mary); she became impregnated, and brought forth a child. The Angel spoke to Miriam, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of Elohim,” -- Luke 1:35.

This pattern of hovering, immersion, and impregnation, is one that YHWH has set and continues to use this day.

Immersion is also an act of repentance, following rebellion against YHWH. (YHWH is the violated one.)

In the beginning Adam and Chawaw (Eve) allowed sin to corrupt them and were therefore rendered ritually unclean. They were cast from YHWH’s awesome presence. The Midrash teaches that after Adam was banished, he sat in a river that flowed from the garden. This was his immersion after sin that showed his desire to return to the Creator. As Adam sat in the moving waters that flowed from the Garden he could remember his former state and he no doubt mourned the loss of closeness with the Creator.

A life and death experience
The next mikvah found in the Scriptures shows us how immersion not only brings forth new life, but also washes away the old life. Mikvah washes away the evil and brings a new start. After many years of wickedness increasing in the earth, YHWH decided to destroy the world with the great flood. Only the righteous were saved from this washing away of all that was immoral. In Beresheet / Genesis 7 we learn that that the wicked were in essence “drowned.” Their lives of sin were totally destroyed. Noach and his family would repopulate the planet with a righteous seed. Mikvah’s purpose is to spiritually cleanse the sinner from all that is contrary to Torah. In Acts 2: 38, Kefa (Peter) replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Yahshua HaMoshiach for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Ruach HaKadosh (Holy Spirit)”.

The Hebrews and Mikvah
The role of mikvah continues with the Passover story of the Hebrews. First, Yisra’el is enslaved in bondage to Pharaoh. They cry out to YHWH in prayer and the Maker hears them. He delivers the nation, setting them free from slavery through ten horrible plagues. However, as the nation flees the evil ruler, they come to a dead end. Pharaoh is pursuing them from behind and before them is the massive Red Sea. What will happen? The Torah says that the immense waters of the Red Sea parted and our ancestors walked across the deep on dry land. With the walls of water on either side of them, the Yisra’elites experienced mikvah, “our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea…" -- 1 Corinthians 10: 1-2.

The same waters that receded for the Yisra’elites though, flooded Pharaoh and his army as they tried to cross the Red Sea. The Hebrew word “t’vilah” even appears in Shemot / Exodus, when Pharaoh’s army was overtaken by the sea waters. “YHWH is a man of war, YHWH is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea,” Shemot / Exodus 15: 4. The word translated drowned is actually “mikvah.” Pharaoh and his goons were in essence immersed and killed by the waters. T’vilah is symbolic of the womb, of new life, of bringing death.

Shortly after this mikvah the nation would receive the Torah from YHWH at Mount Sinai. And again, the Hebrews would experience another t’vilah. “YHWH said to Moshe, Go to the people, and set them apart today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, And be ready by the third day: for on the third day YHWH will come down in the sight of all the people upon Har Senai…And Moshe went down from the mount to the people, and set-apart the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day: approach not your wives in intimacy,” Shemot / Exodus 19: 10,11,14. For Yisra’el to continue in intimacy with YHWH they had to wash themselves, separate themselves, and prepare for the Set Apart One. Notice that after they had already been baptized in the Red Sea, yet, they experienced t’vilah again. This time, immersion’s purpose was to cleanse the nation to experience YHWH.

And from here, it is no surprise that the Torah continues to contain many references to mikvah and immersion in water. Mikvah has many avenues of purpose, yet one goal, the goal of being set apart. This is made clear through the many washings connected with Temple worship. In Tanakh times, the tabernacle and the temple were the place of YHWH’s presence. A person could only approach the Most High at these places, if they were ritually clean. The unclean were cut off from worship until their condition had been dealt with.

There are many ways that we become unclean, which we will discuss further during this teaching. However, t’vilah mikvah mayim (immersion in a collection of moving waters) was, and is, a central part in dealing with uncleanliness. For example, the leper would go through washing rituals found in Vayikra / Leviticus 14, not for physical cleansing but spiritual cleansing. Like Naaman who immersed seven times and was healed, mikvah completed the healing process for leprosy. The priests also went through immersions in preparation for temple service in Vayikra / Leviticus 16. Throughout the Torah, mikvah is established as a vital and necessary part of Temple worship. Thus, ritual baths were built at the Temple site to be used by those seeking to immerse themselves for ritual/spiritual cleanliness. People who became unclean were not allowed to approach YHWH without first immersing themselves. Those who are clean were allowed access to the temple site while many who were unclean were put outside the camp. Immersion and sometimes a wait, was and is simply a part of the remedy for becoming unclean. “You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them,” -- Vayikra / Leviticus 15: 31.

Again, we can discern from the Torah that the main purpose of t’vilah is that of separation. Separation is the calling of all believers. It is one reason why we were called out of darkness to walk in the light of YHWH. Separation is central to the besorat (gospel) of the Messiah. The Creator desires His people to be set apart, or kadosh, in Hebrew. As we separate ourselves from this world we actually separate ourselves unto YHWH. In the Torah we have been called to draw lines of separation between the common and the pure, the clean and the unclean, the profane, and the holy. “And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean,” Vayikra – Leviticus 10:10.

All believers have been called to the priestly worship of YHWH through our covenant with Him. We are to walk in cleanliness, to be free of defilement, and daily, to demonstrate YHWH’s high moral standards. We become unclean when we cross the lines that YHWH has set for living with His Torah.

There are three various degrees of being unclean: temporary, punishment, and a person can become unclean through natural bodily functions. This isn’t an essay on ritual purity, but this subject must be discussed as we look at the role of mikvah. Believers today must still deal with the issue of being spiritually and ritually clean. One may become impure for many different reasons: eating unclean foods, turning to a medium or spiritualist, and even, sinning defiantly. Yahshua did not abolish uncleanliness from the world. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill,” Mattitiyahu-- Matthew, chapter 5

Niddah and Conversion
Torah also requires mikvah for the woman coming off her time of “niddah” or menstrual cycle. This time of uncleanliness reminds the believing household of YHWH’s word and its provisions for every part of life. Though it has been ignored for thousands of years, believers must now deal with family purity or Taharat Hamishpachah. Torah says that a woman is unclean during her cycle and seven days after its end, until she immerses in a mikvah. During this time a man and woman may not engage in sexual relations. Judaism still teaches that one week from the woman’s flow she must visit a mikvah. “Immersion in the mikvah is the culmination of the Taharat Hamishpachah discipline. In many ways mikvah is the threshold separating the unholy from the holy, but it is even more. Simply put, immersion in a mikvah signals a change in status -- more correctly, an elevation in status. Its unparalleled function lies in its power of transformation, its ability to effect metamorphosis.

Utensils that could heretofore not be used can, after immersion, be utilized in the holy act of eating as a Hebrew. A woman, who from the onset of her menses was in a state of Niddah, separated from her husband, may after immersion be reunited with him in the ultimate holiness of married intimacy. Men or women in Temple times, who were precluded from services because of ritual defilement, could, after immersion, alight the Temple Mount, enter the House of Elohim and involve themselves in sacrificial offerings and the like. The case of the convert is most dramatic. The individual who descends into the mikvah as a gentile emerges from beneath its waters as a Hebrew,” wrote Rivkah Slonin at www.chabad.org.

The idea of immersion symbolizing conversion is not new to Christianity. This process originally began with Judaism and continues as part of the process even today. The Encyclopedia Judaica says that immersion is one of two paths that a new convert must take to enter Judaism. The other avenue into the Jewish faith is that of circumcision (brit milah). Interestingly, Rav Shaul in the Messianic Writings also compares brit milah and mikvah. While most people would view the worship center or synagogue as the central place of gathering, the Talmud states that a mikvah pool should be built before a synagogue building. According to the Mishnah, a group of Jewish families living together do not attain the status of community until they have built a mikvah!

Within the Biblical faith, these actions connotate drawing near.

Our Messiah whom we Follow
As John the Baptist called “repent for the kingdom of heaven is near,” he was urging his listeners to stop their Torah breaking and return to YHWH through repentance coupled with immersion. “Let us draw near with a true lev (heart) in full assurance of emunah (trusting faithfulness), having our levim (hearts) sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure mayim (water),” Ivrim / Hebrews 10:22. Again, the vivid word picture used by Rivkah Slonin beautifully illustrates the power of t’vilah. She wrote, an individual “descends into the mikvah as a gentile and emerges from beneath its waters as a Hebrew".

Immersion gains another image with the life, death, and resurrection of Yahshua our Master. “Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of Elohim, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, Elohim made you alive with the Master. He forgave us all our sins,” -- Colossians 2: 12-13. T’vilah shows that we have died to our old life and have been raised anew into Messiah. Again, we descend a gentile and ascend an Yisraelite – a believer in Messiah. “If you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise,” – Galiyut - Galatians 3: 29.

The apostles and the early believers continued the Jewish practice of mikvah as a symbol of conversion. “Upon hearing, they were baptized into the name of the Master Yahshua,” Acts 19: 5. Notice what name the new believers were baptized into. Every single baptism in the Messianic Writings, from Acts to Revelation, is done in the name of Yahshua. Baptism testifies that "ye are washed ... ye are sanctified ... ye are justified in the name of the Master Yahshua, and by the Spirit of our Elohim," I Corinthians 6:11.

Even the method of baptism during Biblical times was different than today. The person would first wash himself and make sure he was very clean. Then, he would walk into the water by himself, and squat down into the fetal posistion. This was usually done three times and was witnessed by someone who stood nearby to make sure the immersing person was completely covered by the water. This “witness” would declare the immersion complete “in the name” or “as a follower of Yahshua".

Part Two To Follow

Mikvah is a life and death experience. It is a time when new life is given and physical, outward actions symbolize inward changes. Mikvah is a cleansing from this unclean world and unclean ways. During our final three points we discuss how this action of immersion is an expression of who we truly are. We will see the power of drawing near to YHWH in t’vilah and how through this action we cling to our hope. Finally, we’ll discuss how to go from information to application and apply this teaching to your everyday life. You can practice immersion and dip into the power of the Creator. “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Yahshua,” Acts 22:16.

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