In the Jewish perspective, every physical condition, action or reality is representative of a spiritual truth. In John 3, Messiah Yeshua and Nicodemus are discussing mikvah, the ritual cleansing that Christianity has come to term as "baptism" when they use the idiom, "born again". Messiah confirms to Nicodemus that this is, indeed what He is talking about when He says, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit…" (John 3:5). The Mikvah is a demonstration of spiritual cleansing: an outward manifestation of business that has already taken place between the penitent and his God. In Judaism, if one comes to the waters of mikvah without first undergoing spiritual renewal through confession, repentance and reconciliation, then one is just getting wet.
It’s easy to condemn thoughtless and insincere expressions of ritual obedience. It’s a waste of everyone’s time. It’s a facade of hypocrisy. It’s trying to look like something you are not. Yet, Messiah may be speaking to something that is more difficult for us to detect.
If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
(Joh 3:12 KJV)
In Hebrews 10:1, we are told that the
is "a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things." Many Christian teachers, therefore, dismiss the
as unimportant. "Why would we waste time with the ‘shadow’ when we have the real deal?" The truth is that we don’t have as much of the "real deal" as we’d like to think that we have.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
(1Co 13:12 KJV)
The spiritual elements of Adonai’s truths are, in reality, utterly beyond our reach.
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
(Rom 7:14 KJV)
This necessarily brings us back to the words of Messiah: the earthly things are demonstrated to us for purpose, so that we may gain a glimpse of understanding, those thing which are heavenly.
The Tabernacle system, the festivals and ordinances are given to us by Adonai to teach us more about who He is and about the love that He has for us. They are object lessons and visual aides to demonstrate for us those things utterly incomprehensible to the finite mind.
Nicodemus had great wisdom and insight concerning spiritual things… or so he thought. Messiah brought him back to Judaism 101: to the waters of mikvah. The physical expressions of obedience to
are no barriers to our pursuit of truth. They are rather moorings that hold us to the foundation, where otherwise we would drift into the strange trappings of human theology.
You have to be able to walk before you can fly. You need to have a full grasp on Adonai’s physical examples before you can begin to really understand His spiritual truths. This is a difficult thing to accept when we have been taught that "the Spirit will guide us into all truth." Yet, so easily we forget that in the same context that Paul exhorts the Church to "quench not the Spirit," he also tells us to "prove all things, hold fast to that which is good and to abstain from all appearance of evil." (1st Thessalonians 5:19-22) In Romans 7:12 he will later declare that the Law (the
) is holy and just and good. We ought not despise nor disdain these holy things that have been given to us for our benefit.
Once I thought I thought I had a good understanding of the Scriptures. I was trained from my childhood as and to be a theologian. I had a solid handling of the Greek language and a powerful command of the New Testament Scriptures. I was living in monochrome. To begin to experience and understand the powerful expressions of Messiah’s love through the fullness of His Word is to go beyond living color and step into the reality of His presence… and yet, this remains but a shadow. We begin, as we start to experience the Hebraic appurtenance of the Scriptures, how much there is not only to know about the love of Messiah but to experience His goodness in our daily lives. We begin to not only look into the things that Adonai wishes to share with us; but to touch them and to feel them. And yet, how much greater our eternal experience will be!
is "a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things." Many Christian teachers, therefore, dismiss the 
