BAPTISM: WHERE OUR HOPE BEGINS (Part 2)
Posted on July 18, 2024 by Patrick Shabi with an estimated reading time of 6 minutes
Last updated on August 23, 2024
THE WASHING AWAY OF SINs (Part 2)
The use of water for ritual cleansing was important to the Hebrews. In fact, the practice can be seen throughout Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments. God commanded Moses in Exodus 19:10:
“Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow; and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.”
This wasn’t a simple process either, but a thorough cleansing as the process would last three days. David alluded to a cleansing like this in Psalms 51:7 when he says,
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
Jesus Christ also references the cleansing that is required for His followers through The Great Tribulation when He says,
“These are the ones who come out of the Great Tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
(Revelation 7:14)
The practice of ritual cleansing through water to come into God’s presence was not only applied to the washing of clothes. The practice was similarly applied to the washing of oneself to become ritually cleansed as well. In Leviticus 15:21-22, we see that women were commanded to wash themselves after their monthly cycle. Leviticus 14:7-9 shows us that the act of washing was also required after recovering from a skin disease, like leprosy, or when coming into contact with a corpse, as mentioned in Numbers 19:11-13. The act of washing oneself in water was so significant and important to God, that it was even commanded of Aaron and of his sons. In Exodus we read,
“And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water.” (Exodus 29:4)
Aaron and his sons were required to wash themselves before offering any sacrifices to God, especially on the High Day of Atonement. This washing was so important that failure to not wash properly would result in death.
The symbolism of immersing oneself in water to become ritually, and thus, spiritually cleansed was well understood to the ancient Israelites as this concept is pervasive throughout the Old Testament. However, even though God wanted the Israelites to practice this ritual cleansing for what it symbolized (just like how God commanded the Israelites to keep the Passover even though the full meaning wouldn’t be revealed to them until nearly 1,200 years later), He was more interested in their spiritual cleansing. Although Psalm 51:7 was mentioned earlier, washing oneself from sin was on David’s mind throughout Psalm 51 as he correlates this washing to burnt sacrifices and the removal of sin. Jesus Christ also elaborates on the spiritual cleansing He desires from His followers, when He tells the Pharisees,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”
(Matthew 23:27)
Even though on the outside the Pharisees appeared righteous and interested in following God’s law, on the inside they were actually ‘whitewashed.’ Their true interest in following God’s law was primarily for their own personal gain. Likewise, major prophets such as Jeremiah, Ezra, and Zechariah also allude to this symbolism throughout their writings.
So, with this background and seeing the pervasiveness of washing throughout the Old Testament, are we now able to begin to see why the concept of baptism, and what it symbolized, was not defined at the beginning of the New Testament? Perhaps, but there is still a missing, and very important piece, related to washing and its link to baptism. After all, we know that the act of washing was only symbolic of the type of spiritual cleansing that Jesus Christ desires of His Followers.
So, what does it symbolize?
We can begin to understand the symbolism more fully through a single Hebrew word – mikveh.
Previous: The beginning and origins of baptism (Part 1)
Next: Discover the new meaning of mikveh and what it means for baptism (Part 3)