“Welcome to Torah Today Ministries, our continuing series on the body, soul, and spirit. This is the third episode out of four.
In the first episode, we introduced the concepts of body, soul, and spirit, seeing how the scriptures address these. And we learned there that we do not have souls, we are souls, but each of us has a body and has a spirit.
Then in the second episode, we looked at the connection between the body and the soul. This is a pretty familiar thing to all of us.
But in this episode, we look at the soul-spirit connection. This is the episode where we get into the deep end of the pool. And the reason this is a difficult concept to understand is because the soul is spiritual, and the spirit by definition is spiritual.
The body we understand pretty well. But the soul and the spirit, which are both non-physical, it gets a little murky. It’s difficult to distinguish between the two. And so many times, we wonder—some urge we may have deep within us—is that just my own emotions, or is that God’s Spirit speaking to me?”
“And this confusion that we all experience between the soul and spirit is a confusion that has some very dire consequences. God does not want us to have confusion between these two.
So many times what we see on religious TV, where people behave in very undistinguished ways, they claim they’re being moved by the Spirit. And I hope they are—maybe they are. But how do they know?
How do they know it’s not just their own roiling emotions inside? Maybe their desire to be moved upon by God’s Spirit is so strong that they start imitating, in their own imaginations and emotions, what they perceive to be spiritual outbursts. It’s very confusing.”
“What is the solution? The solution is found in Hebrews 4:12:
For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit.
It’s almost like the Word of God comes along—this living, active, two-edged sword—and cleaves us in half. And then we can see: this is the working of my soul over here, and this is the working of the Spirit over here, God’s Spirit through my spirit.
Once we can distinguish between the two, life’s never the same again. People who have not had the Word of God operate in them in this way can be very confused and very confusing people.
God wants us to see clearly what is of the soul and what is of the Spirit. And the only way we can distinguish between the two is by having the living, sharp Word of God do some spiritual surgery within us.”
“So let’s look at this in a little more detail.
In the Torah, after the Israelites leave Egypt and come into the wilderness, they arrive at Sinai. God begins to give them His commandments. He tells Moses something extraordinary:
I want the people to build Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them (Exodus 25:8).
In Hebrew, betocham can also mean ‘within them.’
Paul later tells us: Don’t you know you are temples of God’s Spirit? Why would people know that? Because this has been foundational Jewish theology from day one—Jewish people have always seen their being as a dwelling place for God’s Spirit.”
“God gives Moses a graphic description of the tabernacle. If you’re not familiar with it, you must become intimately familiar—there’s no single topic in the Bible that takes up more space than the tabernacle (and later the temple).
I call it God’s illustration portion of the Bible—the picture book. Everything God wants to teach us can be illustrated through the tabernacle.
So, the tabernacle is a kind of schematic of the human being—body, soul, and spirit.
Again, God said: Build Me a tabernacle that I may dwell among them. If you and I are tabernacles of God’s Spirit, then here’s what we look like.”
“This large rectangle is the courtyard, enclosed by posts and curtains. The entrance faced east, because when God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden, He drove them eastward. By building the tabernacle facing east, it’s as if God was reversing the exile, saying: You are welcome to approach the Tree of Life again.
The outer court contained the bronze altar and the bronze laver.
Inside stood the tabernacle proper, built of gold-covered beams with layered coverings. From outside, it looked plain; inside, embroidered cherubim filled the ceiling.
The Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant and God’s Shekinah glory. Closer to God, you saw yourself more clearly.”
“The outer court represents the body—frail and temporary, like linen curtains.
The holy place represents the soul.
The Holy of Holies represents the spirit—where God dwells.
And notice the reversal: what seems most solid to us (the body) is fragile in God’s view; what seems ‘invisible’ to us (soul and spirit) are solid and eternal.
This is God’s perspective: the outer court is the 1% realm; inside is the 99% realm.”
“The outer court was illuminated by the fire on the altar, the sun by day, and the moon and stars by night—kind of like our human bodies.
Inside the holy place, illumination came from the golden menorah.
But in the Holy of Holies, illumination came from the Shekinah glory of God Himself.
There was food in the outer court—physical food: the animals and the grains brought to the altar.
There was food in the holy place: the twelve unleavened loaves of showbread on the table, for the priests.
There was food in the Holy of Holies as well: inside the ark was a jar of manna, bread from heaven.
The more you meditate on the tabernacle, the more you see the reflection of body, soul, and spirit in this schematic.”
“Now imagine you had a drone above the holy place, looking down. You’d see the menorah on the south, the showbread table on the north, the golden altar of incense, and then the curtain—the parochet—embroidered with cherubim.
On top of the ark, there were also cherubim—but hidden, because the veil blocked them. The veil revealed what it concealed: you couldn’t see the cherubim on the ark, but you could see them woven into the veil.
In the temple during Yeshua’s life, it was this veil that tore when He died (Matthew 27:51). When He cried out and gave up His spirit, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
If man had done it, it would’ve torn from the bottom up. God Himself tore it.
The veil had separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies. With its tearing, it’s as if the cherubim stepped aside: The way to the Tree of Life is open again.”
“The writer of Hebrews (10:19–20) explains:
We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Yeshua, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain—that is, through His flesh.
When Yeshua’s body was torn, His soul and body separated in death. The veil separated holy place from Holy of Holies—and this was torn too.
Even in the wilderness, when the Israelites traveled, no one saw the ark directly, because the veil was taken down and folded over it. The veil clothed the ark.
So too, Yeshua was God’s presence on earth—veiled in flesh. God was in Messiah, reconciling the world to Himself.
The ark, the veil, and Yeshua’s body are all pictures of the same reality.”
“Likewise, Hebrews 4:12 says the sword of the Spirit divides soul and spirit.
Just as the veil, the flesh, and the sword of the cherubim at Eden all stood as barriers—so now, through Yeshua, the sword also reveals.
The Hebrew word parochet (veil) contains perekh (harshness/severity) plus tav (the last Hebrew letter, symbolizing the cross). Even the very word pictures Messiah’s suffering on the cross.
Through His severity on the cross, the barrier was broken, and now soul and spirit can be divided.”
“Hebrews 4 continues:
The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Joints: what makes activity possible.
Marrow: where life-source (blood) is created.
Thus the Word distinguishes mere activity from true source of life.
Thoughts: human reasoning.
Intentions: the deeper motivations of the heart.
The sword exposes what’s hidden, lays us bare before God, so we can see clearly what is soulish and what is truly spiritual.”
“You are a soul—your mind, will, emotions. You have a spirit, which God wants to fill with His Spirit.
The soulish believer lets their soul do the heavy lifting—busy, frantic, always figuring, planning, worrying. They act from feelings and opinions. ‘That’s just how I feel—that’s why I did it.’ But feelings are never an excuse for behavior.
The spiritual believer rests. From God’s Spirit, he looks down at his soul and says: I need to change this thought. I need to forgive. I need to discipline this anger.
The fleshly person lives by bodily impulses.
The soulish person lives by emotions and intellect.
The spiritual person lives by God’s Spirit.”
“The soul is motivated so much by ego. Now ego is not pride. It can manifest as pride, but sometimes it can manifest as false humility. The ego is a phantom soul. It’s what you project out. The ego is a lie, but you project it out because you want people to think this is who you are.
But when the ego is destroyed, they can see who you truly are. The ego is a lie. The ego is a phantom soul. The ego must be destroyed. Whether that ego makes you present yourself as the best or as the worst, the smartest or the dumbest, the strongest or the weakest, makes no difference. Whether it presents itself as boastfulness or self-pity, it’s still all self. It’s still a false image. God wants us to be who we are.
He wants to expose and wants us to be true and honest and open about who we are. The true self is going to be found in the Spirit. That is going to be your true self. And when we can begin to recognize God’s presence in our lives, His love for us, His spiritual presence in our lives, our souls can rest. They don’t have to be so busy trying to prop up an image that we prop up an image that we want the world to look at and think we are. We can just be who we are. We can find such joy and security and shalom and humility.”
“Yeshua, the King of Kings, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the Sinless One, was extremely humble. And in that humility, there is true rest. He could just be himself. He didn’t have to put on anything. And out of that humility, he could be a lamb, he could be a lion. But he always knew exactly how to perform, what to do, what to say, how to be when he was with others.”
“You know, this distraction we have on our bodies and souls is something that’s addressed in Numbers 15:39. This is where God gives the commandment concerning tzitzit, the tassels on the corners, the four corners of a tallit, a prayer shawl. And this is the reasoning for putting on tzitzit, these tassels.
It says that it will be tzitzit for you to look at. When you look at it, what happens? You will remember all the commandments of Adonai, to do them. And by doing God’s commandments, you will not follow after. Now look what it says. Your own heart, that’s the soul. Your own eyes, that’s the body.
Think about this for a moment. I know people, some are more geared towards following what they see. They’re more involved in the physical, and they’re tempted by the physical, and they go for that. Then others who consider themselves more mature, more spiritual, they don’t, they’re not distracted by the physical. We know that they can be distracted by their own hearts.
And they explore after their hearts. And when they encounter something, well, wait a minute, let me consult my emotions and see what I think about that. And it’s just as wrong as exploring after what they see. And yet, we can become so smug and feel so superior to others because we’re explored after our hearts. And I know people who’ve lived this way, and they became tremendous failures in their walk. And they became terrible disappointments. And they became great stumbling blocks to everyone around them. Exploring after your heart, exploring after your eyes are both dangerous.”
“So the question is, I can’t explore after what I see, and I can’t explore after what’s inside my soul, then what do I do?
We look to God. We look to His Word. We look to the Torah. And we’re always consulting Him. You can say to the Lord, Lord, this is what I see, and this is what I want. And in my soul, this is what I think. But what do you say? What do you say? What is your will?
Put yourself in this position. You have the power to heal. And one of your best friends is so sick that they are actually dying. What would you do? You would just run after them. Here’s a physical need I see. You’d explore after your heart. Oh, I can’t sit by and do nothing while my friend’s dying. But Yeshua had such a friend. His name was Lazarus. He knew he was sick. He knew he was dying. And then he knew he was dead.
And yet he continued to sit and just talk with the disciples and do the things that needed to be done. And then at the right point, God speaks to his heart. And then he tells his disciples, we need to go see Lazarus. He goes to see Lazarus. He says he’s fallen asleep. And his disciples say, well, he’s fallen asleep. He’ll wake up. And Yeshua says, no, no, no. He’s dead. Seems like it’s too late. It was the perfect timing. You get the idea?”
“Take the story of Mary and Martha. Mary sat at Messiah’s feet. Martha was busy and burdened with much serving. And she’s getting exasperated because she’s working out of the frenzy of her own emotions and the physical needs. Now, the things she was doing, those were good things.
But Yeshua said, Martha, Martha, you’re so busy and burdened with much serving, but Mary’s chosen the better part. So the question we have to ask is, what if Martha had sat at Yeshua’s feet along with Mary? Who would have made lunch? I don’t know. Somehow it would have been made. After all, they’re sitting at the feet of someone who could multiply loaves and fish to feed 5,000. They’re talking to the one who is the living manna from heaven. So I don’t think there would have been a problem.”
“Oh, and this last little bit. When you explore after your heart and after your eyes, we behave like a harlot. You’re selling yourself. A harlot sells her body, but we so easily sell our souls and bodies to the service of the pressure of emotion inside of ourselves or to the desires of our eyes. Instead of, God, what do you want?
The fleshly believer does what he sees out here. He does what he feels. The soulless person, they’ll do what they think, but the spiritual person does what God says.”
“In Jeremiah 17, verses 9 and 10, it says, The heart is ekav above all things, and enosh.
Now, the King James translation is the one that sticks in people’s minds. The heart is desperately wicked above all things. It says something to that effect. Desperately wicked. That is not what the scriptures say.
What it’s really saying here, it’s an ekav above all things, and it’s enosh. Best way to translate that, it’s weak because it’s ill. Not desperately wicked. It’s weak because it’s ill.
God wants to heal our hearts. He wants to give us new hearts. He wants to resurrect and make our hearts whole and strong. But the heart is ekav above all things, and enosh.
Question’s asked, who can understand it? Answer, I, Adonai, search the heart and test the mind. I understand it, he says. I understand it and I want you to understand it. And that’s why the sword of my spirit can lay things open so you can see your own hearts.”
“Now, here’s the interesting thing about the word heart.
Here you see two Hebrew words. Up here at the top, you see the word levav. Here you see the word lev. And you can see that they’re made of the same Hebrew letters, lamed, bait. It’s just the one at the top has an extra bait attached. Lamed, bait, bait. The one at the bottom is just lamed, bait. But they both mean heart.
Sometimes in the Bible, it is spelled with two baits, sometimes just with one. In this case, the word heart is spelled with just one bait. What does this have to do with anything? What are you getting at? What is God trying to teach us through this?
Well, the letter bait is the letter that means house, and it even looks like a house. You’ll notice the letter bait has a floor, it has a ceiling, and it has a wall, okay? It has an opening on the left-hand side where you can go in and out.
Bait means house. Beit lechem, Bethlehem, means house of bread. Beit el, or Beth-el means house of God. So we see that the word heart can be spelled with one bait, or it can be spelled with two baits.
Why is it sometimes spelled with two, sometimes with just one? It’s because our hearts can be divided. And with all of us, I think we have a heart to do what God wants, or you probably wouldn’t be watching this video. You have a heart to do what God wants, but you have a heart to go after, do things you want, and things that are attractive in the world.
Part of you wants to go this way, part of you wants to go this way.”
“And what’s interesting is that in James, and we’re all familiar with this passage, James 1:8, it says, for the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
In the Greek, it’s the double-souled man is unstable in all his ways, the double-souled man. We all tend to be double-souled. We want to do what God wants us to do, and we want to do what we want to do.
And there’s this war going on. Romans 7, Paul describes this battle.
But look what David writes in Psalm 86:11. Teach me your way, Adonai, that I may walk in your truth. Unite my levav, unite my heart. Make the two baits into one. Instead of two houses pulling different ways, make it one house. That I am so submitted to you, Father, that what you want is what I want without any kind of distraction, without any competition from other desires. Unite my heart to fear your name.
And there’s our passage in James 1:8. The double-souled man is unstable in all his ways. We’ve all experienced that instability, haven’t we? Because our heart is pulling two different directions.”
“So let me finish with this.
The sword of the spirit operates in our lives to separate between this, I’m sorry, the sword of the spirit, to separate between the soul and the spirit, so we can see clearly what is what. But the soul and the spirit do not remain separated. They go back together.
But once you’ve seen, once you’ve seen what your soul is made of, of what it’s capable of, and you’ve seen what the spiritual truly is, the spirit of God and how it wants to operate through your spirit, once you’ve seen that clearly, the two can go back together.
God can unite your heart. As it says in Psalm 119:2, Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole lev. And notice here that heart is just one bait. It’s united now.
And this process of separation and then coming back together is a process we see throughout scripture.
Think of Adam. God made Adam, so there’s one man. Then God cut him in half. He took one of his sides, not a rib, that’s not what the word is. He took one of his sides. He separates Adam into two. Out of that side, he forms Eve. He forms the bride. But what happens, the two become one. Again, they become one flesh.
And yet, they’re two people. And in a marriage, you’ve got two people, two minds, two sets of emotions, two souls, two bodies. But in the marriage, they’re in a covenant. And they operate together, and then they become one flesh, but then they go back to being two and operate together. But on occasion, on a regular basis, the two become one. And without that two becoming one flesh, every so often, there’s already no marriage. That has to happen.
And throughout our lives, we’ll be walking, and God might seem a million miles away. We feel so separated. There are times we come together, and we like, we can sense His presence. There are times we feel separate, times together.
But knowing and looking and recognizing, at least that one time, that first flash, where you really see what your spirit is, who God’s spirit is, and how He operates in us. If you can just get hold of that, and God says, okay, I can put you back together now. Because now you understand the difference between your soul and your spirit. And now you’re equipped to begin operating out of the spiritual, and not just out of your own roiling emotions.”
“In the garden, God walked with man in the cool of the evening. They walked together. But then sin came to the picture, and man was driven out of the garden. And ever since then, God has been making the way possible for us to reenter the garden.
And then when you get to the end of the Bible, in Revelation 21 and 22, we see the new heavens. We see the new earth. And God says, I will be with them. They will be with me. I’ll be their God. They’ll be my people. We’ll always be together.
So that oneness between God and man in the garden, that was all broken and separated, we see it become one once again. Won’t that be something?
So the next step in really becoming a spiritual person is allow the Word of God, the living Word of God, do a deep work in us so we can see ourselves as we are. And only then can we begin to see God for who He is. And then we’ll see the difference between my own soul and the soul of God, which is expressed through His Spirit.
It’s so important that this division take place so we can be whole again and begin to serve God with a united heart.
The next episode of this series, episode four, the final episode, will be called The Spiritual Man. And I don’t claim to be a spiritual man, and I feel unqualified to do this teaching. But I want to give you the principles and what God reveals to us through his scriptures and through the tabernacle about how we become a spiritual man, a spiritual woman. The process is revealed there. I want to share this process with you. And then we together can walk through this and encourage each other to become truly spiritual people.
That is what the world needs. So until then, I wish you shalom and may God bless.”
Due to the many images used in this teaching, please view the notes and images by CLICKING HERE.
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