Just got this excellent question about mikveh from someone on this blog:
Doesn’t the blood of Yeshua cleanse us? I am a newbie so please bear with me.
My answer:
Yes, absolutely. Good question.
Hebrews 6:2 talks about the doctrine of baptisms (plural). The Greek word baptism means “full immersion in water.” Baptism for the remission of sins which one does at the beginning of one’s spiritual walk with Yeshua is but one type of baptism. It’s the most important one, but not the only one. There’s the baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire as well. There’s also the baptism of repentance that John the Baptist did. Once we’re baptized for the remission of sins, do we ever sin again? Obviously yes. What do we do? We repent, ask Yeshua to forgive us, to cleanse us by his blood, and then we turn away from our sin (1 John 1:9). But sometimes it’s good to rehearse the ritual again even as we do communion every year at Passover, even as we do the Sabbath every week and biblical feasts every year. These are memorials of important things past, present and future. Same with the mikveh. It’s not a replacement for baptism for the remission of sins. It’s a rededication of oneself to YHVH.
Each time the priests came into the Tabernacle of Moses to minister, they had to cleanse themselves to be set-apart or holy unto YHVH. It wasn’t for Yah’s benefit. He looks at things from a heart and spirit perspective. It’s for our benefit, so we can better appreciate the difference between the common, profane, physical, polluted, and the earthly compared to the holy, set-apart, spiritual and heavenly realm. When we cross from one realm into the other, we need to stop and take note of it, and enter into the higher realm carefully and slowly through prayer, repentance and spiritual and even physical cleansing. This shows a good and willing heart attitude on our part before our YHVH Elohim, our Heavenly King.
Most us would take more care to come into the presence of the president of the U.S. or the queen of England than we do to come into the Presence of the King of the universe. Think about this for a moment. It’s true isn’t it! This is one of the big problems with modern Christianity. Most believers are too casual when it comes to spiritual things. We don’t take coming into the Presence of the Almighty seriously enough.
Yeshua our Bridegroom is coming back soon, and he expects his bride (that’s us — redeemed Israel) to get ready. That’s what the Parable of the Ten Virgins is all about in Matthew 25. In Revelation 19:7-9, the bride of Yeshua is to be adorned in clean and white garments, not filthy one. What are those white garments? The righteous deeds of the saints (verse 8). Go read it for yourself.
So when I do mikveh, it represents a lot of things to me. Try doing it yourself. See if this one ceremony doesn’t bring you great blessings and bring you closer to Yeshua!