Discovering The Jewish Jesus

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Yeshua himself was baptized in a baptism for sinners unto repentance. Why would our Messiah go to a baptism that was for sinners unto repentance when he had never sinned?

The theme of baptism, which is referred to in Hebrew as Mikvah, the gathering of water and immersing yourself in that water, was introduced in the Hebrew Bible. This is evidenced even in the New Testament where we see the people of Jerusalem coming out to John the Baptist and being immersed there in the Jordan River. This was before Yeshua was proclaimed as Messiah.

This was very much a part of the Jewish religion before Jesus came. By understanding what Mikvah or baptism meant to the children of Israel, we can more appreciate what it means to be baptized or immersed in water in the name of Jesus or Yeshua today. Water is the agent of creation. In the very beginning in the book of Genesis, which is called Bereshit in Hebrew, the first two verses show us that from the very beginning, before there was anything else, all there was was God and the water.

We read in Genesis chapter one, verses one and two, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water." All there was was God and the water. Then God began to speak and he separated the waters. He spoke again and God then brought out of the water the dry land and he formed the earth. Water is the womb of creation. Out of water, the earth came.

Elohim said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear," and it was so. In the tenth verse, Elohim called the dry land earth and the gathered waters he called the seas. He saw it was good. When you are being called to go into the water to be baptized in Yeshua's name, what God is actually doing is calling you back to the womb of creation. He's allowing you to go back and start over.

This is why Yeshua said to Nicodemus, "Unless you're born again, you can't see the kingdom of God." In Messiah, old things pass away and all things become new. That's why Yeshua said, "Unless you believe and are baptized, you can't be saved." We believe and then we go into the waters of the Mikvah. God washes away our old life, our sin is forgiven, the old life is buried and gone, and we come out of that water born afresh and anew.

Regardless of where you've been or what you've done, no matter what sins you've committed or how shameful you may feel, Jesus loves you. He's calling you to receive him and to go into the waters of the Mikvah to be baptized in his name. Your old life is passed away and all that shame is gone. All the things that made you feel filthy and unable to love yourself are buried. God brings you out of that water a brand-new creation, just like he formed the earth fresh and new.

If the devil's just been beating you up, putting guilt and condemnation on you, you should know that Yeshua has forgiven you. That old thing has passed away because Yeshua has made all things new. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, there was a river of life that flowed into the garden and branched out into four other rivers that watered the whole earth.

In Genesis chapter two, "Then Yahweh Elohim formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. And Yahweh God planted a garden toward the east in Eden, and there he placed the man whom he had formed." Why did God make man? The Lord wanted fellowship with him. He created this paradise, Eden, and into this place was a river of life that flowed from the throne of God.

Out of the ground, the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight for food and for good, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. "Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden and from there it divided and became four rivers." These four rivers cultivated the whole earth and watered the entire world.

There was one river that proceeded from the throne of God. This river flowed into Eden and then out of Eden this river became four rivers that watered the entire world. Man is in the garden, but man sins. When man sins, God drives him out of the garden. The garden was the place of fellowship and the water of life that flowed into the garden was man's connection to God.

Yeshua said the spirit, the water, and the blood are all in agreement. This is why Yeshua commanded us to be baptized in water. Unless you're born again of water and the spirit, water is the symbol that connects us to our creator. Water is the womb of life. The spirit of God is symbolized by water. When man sinned, despite God's command not to, spiritual death came upon him and he was driven out of the garden.

We can no longer return to the garden at the present time, but we can return to our connection to God through the water. The water in the garden is what connected man to God, and now the Lord says that he wants to reconnect you. He wants you to be baptized in water in the name of Yeshua. The water that you're baptized in is the same water that watered the Garden of Eden. There's only one source of water and the water that we have on earth today is the same water that was in the beginning. God hasn't created any new water.

God is saying he wants you to go back into the water because water is the symbol of life that connects you to him. In the book of Revelation, we read about the new heaven and the new earth and how the water is coming once again out of the throne of God, giving life to the world and healing the nations. In Genesis chapter 22, John says, "And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and the Lamb."

This water was for the healing of the nations. It caused these trees to grow that were for the healing of the nations. What connects us to the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth? Obviously, God's spirit is everywhere, but water is the theme. The center of the new heavens and the new earth is once again the water of life. Water is extremely important.

Yeshua said he that believes and is baptized will be saved. Don't take being baptized in Yeshua's name lightly. It's not what saves us, Yeshua saves us, but if we're saved and we're serious about him, we're going to do what he tells us to do. It's very important to him that we profess through baptism that our old life is gone and that we've gone back into the womb of creation.

Not only is the world born out of the water and water is the womb of the world, but where did you come from? Where were you before you walked into this world as an independent being? You were enclosed in your mother's water sac. When the water sac breaks, the baby comes out and he's birthed into this world out of water.

It's an awesome thing that you and I can start again. Regardless of what your life has looked like in the past, there's a new future for you in Messiah Jesus. Old things do pass away and all things become new. If you're hurting today, you should know that you can have a fresh start in life. The Apostle Paul said that he was the chief of sinners, but God gave him a brand-new life.

God wants to wash your sin away and empower you. He's got a new destiny for you. He wants to give you the gift of eternal life and to crown you with the crown from heaven. Just believe him, receive him, give yourself to him completely, and then go be baptized or immersed in water in his name and come out fresh and new. It's amazing the change you're going to see in your life if you're serious and do this sincerely unto him.

Dustin Roberts: You're listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider and he'll be right back, but first a quick announcement.

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Dustin Roberts: Once again, get your copy at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Now back to Rabbi Schneider.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I want to talk about some other concepts that relate to the principle of being immersed in Yeshua's name. By nature, when a high priest came into office in ancient Israel, the Torah commanded him to be bathed from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet with water. It speaks to us of the fact that being immersed in water speaks of consecration. When we go into the waters of the Mikvah to be baptized in Yeshua's name, we're consecrating ourselves to him.

We're saying, "Lord, I am yours now. I exist for your purposes. I'm your property. I exist for you alone." In Judaism, when a woman is about to be married, she goes to a Mikvah bath right before the marriage. She completely immerses herself in the waters of the Mikvah bath because she's professing by faith that old things are passing away. She's coming out now consecrated to her husband.

When a Jewish bride goes into the waters of the Mikvah bath, she's professing that things are changing. She's going into the Mikvah bath a single woman, but she's going to go under the waters and she's going to be raised out no longer a single person. Now she's going to be united to her husband. So it is with you and I. We've been living autonomously from the Lord, but God has convicted us and brought us to himself.

We go into the waters of the Mikvah no longer living as independent agents, but now we come out of the waters united to Yeshua the Messiah. The other thing that is symbolized is that the Jewish bride was under the authority of her father, living in her father's home. But she goes into the waters of the Mikvah and she comes out no longer under the authority of her father. That authority is transferred. Now she's living under the authority of her new husband.

It's the same thing with us. Before going to the waters of the Mikvah, we're under the authority of sin. But we go under the water and the Lord says, "You're no longer under the authority of sin, you're under my authority." I've given you the authority and the power now to live as my son. I've called you into freedom. We come out of the water of the Mikvah now under the authority of Yeshua the Messiah.

In ancient Israel, the water of the Mikvah pool, which we would call a baptismal pool, had to be gathered in a place that was connected to the earth. Why? Because it symbolized death. Where does a person go when they die? They're buried in the earth. It symbolizes the old life is dying and passing away. Our old life is dead and it's gone. We're immersed in a place buried in the earth and coming out a brand-new creation.

In the book of Matthew, people are coming to the waters to John the Baptist. It wasn't until Jesus came to the waters of the Jordan to be immersed by John that he was first introduced where John pointed at him and said, "Behold the Lamb of God." John said when Yeshua came, "Why are you coming to be baptized?" The Lord opened John's eyes to see that Yeshua was the Messiah and John said, "I have need to be baptized by you."

Yeshua said, "No, let all things be done that's fitting for righteousness." Yeshua himself was baptized in a baptism for sinners unto repentance. Why would our Messiah go to a baptism that was for sinners unto repentance when he had never sinned? It's a precious thing because he did that because he was so identifying with you and I in our humanity. He so loves us and so united himself to us that he identified with us in our sin even unto repentance.

At this point, Yeshua's weakest point, having identified himself with us in our sin, he comes out of the water and the sky opens up and the Lord says, "You're my beloved son, and in you, I am well pleased." That teaches you and me that God doesn't just love us in our strength. Sometimes we think we can only be loved by the Lord when we're strong or when we're performing well. But it was when Yeshua made himself the weakest, identifying himself with us even in our sin, that the sky opened and the Lord said, "You are my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." God loves you and I even when we're weak.

In ancient Israel, when a Gentile wanted to convert to Judaism, they went through a Mikvah process. I do not advise any Gentile to convert to Judaism because we're not identifying with Judaism, we're identifying with Jesus. But the rabbinic mindset of the day was that if a Gentile wanted a place in the world to come, they had to become a Jew. That was the mindset of the world before Jesus came.

When Gentiles first believed, there was a debate in the book of Acts chapter 15 about whether these Gentiles needed to convert to Judaism. No longer is that the case. I would never convert any Gentile to being Jewish because you're born Jewish. Secondly, God tells us not to identify with anything but Jesus. But what happened in ancient Israel is a Gentile that wanted to convert to Judaism would go to the waters of a Mikvah and get baptized because it was signifying a complete change of status.

This Gentile was literally being transformed from a Gentile to a Jew. God is saying to you that when you go into the waters of the Mikvah in Yeshua's name, when you're baptized in Yeshua's name, it's so radical what has happened to you. The life that you now have in my son is so radical that things have so substantially changed for you that it's even greater than what it was signifying for a Gentile that was suddenly supposedly coming out of the water a Jew.

You've been completely changed. You are a new creation in Messiah Jesus. Those of you that have really been born again, you know that there's always change that's taking place in your life because water is the symbol of change. When it's real cold, water changes into ice. When it's real hot, water evaporates into the air. Water is an agent of change and we're commanded to go into water because in Jesus, we're being changed and transformed.

Father, right now I release healing anointing and transformational anointing in the spirit to all those that are watching right now. Father, I pray that you release the water of the Holy Spirit right now into the hearts of those that are thirsty that they might receive change in their life. Lord, this second, transform your people and cleanse them of sin and strengthen them in life and righteousness. Build your kingdom, Father, cleanse your people and transform them into the image and the glory of Yeshua HaMashiach.

I always make it a priority to teach the truth of the Word of God. I know that on the earth today sometimes it's hard to find teaching that you feel is authentic and that feeds you. I want to simply say this: it costs me a lot of money to broadcast. Christian programmers like myself have to pay for our own airtime. The only way that I can broadcast is when those that are receiving from this ministry respond by financially sowing into it.

If you believe in me and if this ministry is feeding you, would you make a special offering to the Lord through Discovering the Jewish Jesus? The Bible teaches that we should financially support those that are feeding us. Paul said such men are worthy of support. If you're being blessed by this ministry, if you believe in what we're doing, if you want other people to be blessed by it, simply respond to the Holy Spirit and make an offering to the Lord today through Discovering the Jewish Jesus. I want to thank you in advance for your support. God bless you and Shalom.

Dustin Roberts: Amen. Thank you, Rabbi Schneider. Friends, if the Lord is leading you to financially support Discovering the Jewish Jesus today with a gift of any amount, would you please give us a call? Our number is 800-777-7835. You can also give online. Our web address is discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Before we wrap up our program today, we want to bless you with a free gift. It's our self-deliverance teaching bundle. It's an engaging resource and it includes Rabbi Schneider's step-by-step PDF guide that explains how to recognize spiritual footholds and close open doors to the enemy through scripture.

You'll also receive an MP3 audio file with prayers that you can model to help walk you through this. Rabbi created this course because when he was pastoring, there were so many people who needed deliverance and their deliverance team was booked out for a whole year. So he taught self-deliverance. This will be a great tool to help you find freedom. Get your copy for free at myfreegift.com/freedom. Now here's Rabbi with the Aaronic blessing.

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: In the book of Numbers chapter six, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. The Lord said, "When you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them." Receive the impartation of the Lord's blessings.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance and the Lord give you his peace. God bless you and Shalom.

Dustin Roberts: I'm your host Dustin Roberts and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join us again when Rabbi Schneider explores whether Jesus was mentioned in the Old Testament or not. That's tomorrow on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.