Part #3 Matthew 3-4 (Finding The Gospels in The Weekly Torah Portions)

In our last session, we saw that the model for the 1st Century 3-in1 Baptistery, was compared to the 3 compartments of Noah’s Ark. This is not just an old Jewish concept of the 1st Century, but it’s a New Testament concept, brought to us by way of the 1st Epistle of the Apostle Peter where he said: "The [flood] waters of Noah, symbolizes Baptism that now saves you also—But not by the removal of dirt from the body, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah." Baptism in Peter's day was not a Christian sacrament. It was a Jewish purity ritual, a symbolic cleansing regularly practiced by observant Jews. It was accomplished by a full body immersion into living water. The Hebrew word for the vessel used for the gathering together of this Living Water is pronounced: Mikvah, or to us: ‘a Baptistery’. The Apostle Peter points out that Noah's flood waters of the Book of Genesis, accomplished a similar function to the waters of the 3-in1 Mikvah design. Tonight, were going to see how this week’s Torah Portion of Noah’s Flood and his Ark of Salvation, compares to this week’s Gospel reading, of the Baptism of our Savior Jesus, the true vessel of Salvation of our eternal souls!