For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” Leviticus 17:11
The children of Israel disobeyed God’s commandment when they formed the gold calf, and worshipped it—“Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). It was this act of spiritual disobedience that brought them under the carnal law, instituted by the tribe of Levi, the Book of Leviticus a book of religious law, which served as a figure for the Spiritual Law they disobeyed. They were to keep the carnal works of the Written Law until they fulfilled them through spiritual works; through spiritual obedience— a higher level of Torah observance. The adding of the Written Law, which included the Ten Commandments, was the birth of Judaism, one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions. To atone for their sins would require them to sacrifice the blood or life of the very thing that caused them to sin in the first place, which was the beast. The flesh is the beast, the life of which is taken through the spilling of its blood— a blood sacrifice.
Let’s rewind history five hundred years to the time of Abraham, who was instructed by God to go to the land of Moriah, and offer up his son for a burnt offering. Moriah is derived from the primary root יָרָה (yarah), meaning to teach or to show. The story provides us with divine revelation and instruction, and it’s prophetic, revealing what would take place two thousand years down the road. Abraham was willing to sacrifice what was most important to him. Are we willing to do the same? Abraham represents God the Father, and Isaac represents the Son. What is most important to God the Father is His Son. The son is the seed or word of God (Luke 8:11) truth, which was made flesh (John 1:14).
The “life of the flesh is in the blood…”The people sacrificed the wrong flesh at Passover two thousand years ago, sacrificing the word of God, truth, which is life— “In him was life” (John 1:4). What they should have offered up was the blood or life of their internal flesh— the beast within— a spiritual blood sacrifice. As God’s word was made flesh, so too has man’s word been made flesh. God’s word is truth. Man’s word is the opposite of truth, iniquities that destroy the truth that wants to live in that spiritual earth called the heart.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
The word “bruised” means “beat to pieces, crush, destroy.” The word “for” does not mean” in place of” (as the Christian religion teaches). It means, “because of.” Truth dies because of our iniquities— a mistranslation that unfortunately gave credence to Paul’s ‘atonement for sins through the blood of Jesus,’ a perversion of religious law, which required the blood of a beast— a law that was to end at the coming of Messiah, which we will find encoded in the story of the first passover.
… the chastisement of our peace was upon him…” The Jews wanted peace, which they believed Messiah would bring when he returned to restore the kingdom of Israel to its former glory. What they got was a Messiah that spoke of an internal kingdom (Luke 17:21), where through an internal judgment (Matthew 19:28), one would obtain internal peace (Psalms 122), a spiritual concept the rejected Messiah paid for with his life. The Jews may have rejected the spiritual teachings of Jesus, but it was Paul who perverted them, teaching Christians to wait for Jesus to come in the clouds and restore heaven and earth to their former glory, through which Paul instilled a false peace. When you think of Paul, think of the carnal mind— the spiritual “veil of religious iniquity” that prevents us from seeing and hearing spiritual truth. Paul, chosen apostle to the Gentiles, sold Christians on the carnal concept of atonement for sin through the blood of Jesus, making them equally guilty for taking the life of God’s word made flesh.
… and with his stripes we are healed.” The word stripes goes back to the primary root חָבַר (chabar) meaning to join self, to join together, compact. We are not healed by the physical stripes Jesus endured. We are not healed, freed from our sins, by joining Jesus in his death, as Paul teaches. We are healed when we follow what Jesus teaches: “Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matthew 19:28 . The word “compact” in the definition of “stripes” appears only once in the Bible: “... Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.” Psalms 122. We are healed through an internal judgment, through which we obtain internal peace.
If the blood of the son were an acceptable sacrifice for sin, God would have accepted Abraham’s sacrifice. The angel of the Lord instructs Abraham not to sacrifice his son. An angel is a messenger. The message? The acceptable sacrifice for sin is not the blood or life of the son. The acceptable sacrifice for sin is the blood or life of the beast— the ram, which means idolatry; the worshipping of false images. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” the “other gods” symbolizing our “false images or beliefs,” which equate to “man’s word,” the flesh or beast we are to sacrifice. Abraham demonstrated his belief in the One God (which he was introduced to while dwelling in a land that served many gods) by willingly offering up what was most important to him. We demonstrate our belief in the One God by willingly offering up what is most important to us— our other gods; the false (religious and personal) beliefs we give reverence to, daily. The sacrificing of this beast of false beliefs is the only acceptable sacrifice for sin! Anything else is nothing but a mockery!
Fast forward five hundred years, to the first passover of the children of Israel. Every man was to offer up a lamb. “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year… ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” Exodus 12:5,6. Abraham’s sacrificing of his son, and the children of Israel’s sacrificing of the lamb without blemish, are prophetic, pointing us to the same point in time. The coming of Messiah, when Jesus, called “the Lamb of God,” was offered as sacrifice for the sins of the people. He was “a male of the first year,” put to death in the first century. The children of Israel, now referred to as Jews, were to observe the carnal Passover (which required animal blood sacrifice) “until the fourteenth day.” God’s cycle of time is 28 days, the same as the woman’s reproductive cycle. Conception takes place in the midst of the cycle, which is when Jesus, the spiritual seed or word of God made flesh, came to earth. It was time to conceive of spiritual truth. Jesus came in the fifth day; in the beginning of the fifth thousandth year: 1+2+3+4+5=15. Carnal sacrifices were to end, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. But the Jews, unable to conceive of spiritual truth, which instructs us to offer up spiritual sacrifices, offered up a lamb “in the evening” of “the fourteenth day” (the day counted from evening to morning).
“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats… Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Isaiah 1:11,13-15. Isaiah is describing the carnal practices of religion, which were to end two thousand years ago. Israel’s obedience to religious law, once counted as (a degree of) righteousness, is now counted as iniquity. Paul, in teaching Christians a perversion of religious law with regard to blood sacrifice, is solely responsible for the iniquity of the Gentiles, which are the Christians who believe that the blood or life of Jesus has atoned for their sins. Now, two thousand years later (in the last or end of the seven days) we are being given one last opportunity to offer up a one-time spiritual sacrifice during the spiritual Passover of the World, which has already begun.
The seventh day: 1+2+3+4+5+6+7=28. The beginning of the seventh thousandth year since the fall, symbolizing the spiritual decline of mankind. The number seven pertains to the spiritual. Through the mouth of David we learn that only after the spiritual sacrifices of God are performed, will God be pleased with the carnal sacrifices made under the law (Psalms 51:17,18). Until such time, all religious sacrifices, practices, and traditions, are counted as iniquity. The seventh day, which we entered with the new millennium, marked the beginning of the third and final era. The “era of Abraham,” which began four thousand years ago. The “era of Isaac,” which began two thousand years ago. And the current “era of Jacob,” which translates to the “era of Spirit.” One last opportunity for man to move beyond the carnal and into the spiritual; beyond the ritualistic practices of religion and into revitalization and regeneration of the soul. “God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” John 4:24, spoken by Jesus two thousand years ago.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Matthew 16:24. Jesus teaches us to carry our own cross, symbolizing the burden our word of false beliefs has placed upon the truth that wants to live in our heart. Paul placed the burden of sin on the Lord, teaching Christians that the blood or life of Jesus atoned for their sins. “And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the Lord. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the Lord, I will even punish that man and his house. Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the Lord answered? and, What hath the Lord spoken? And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more: for every man’s word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.” Jeremiah 23:33-36. Jesus was made the scapegoat, made to bear the blame of others.
“Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:…” Exodus 12:5. Paul teaches that Jesus, who was holy, without sin, offered himself as a living sacrifice for our sins, which is carnal thinking. Paul also teaches that we are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy, being transformed through the renewing of our mind, which is spiritual thinking. What Paul did was mix religious law with spiritual truth, mixing milk with meat (בשר בחלב), which is unlawful. The beast they offered up under the law, was carnal. The beast we are to offer up, fulfilling the carnal law, is spiritual. It’s beast for beast, not human for beast! It’s the blood or life of our spiritual beast that we are to sacrifice. But how can we, in our present state, being with sin, offer up a lamb (sheep or goat) without spot or blemish? A young sheep is called a lamb. A baby goat is called a kid. The term kid is used to refer to a child. Jesus said we must become as a little child, which is to be pure in thought and emotion— holy. This is how we will offer up a lamb without spot or blemish. This is how we will keep God’s one-time Sabbath Day, holy (Exodus 20:8).
“Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.” Matthew 23:26. To clean the inside of the cup and the platter is to purify the thoughts of the mind and the emotions of the heart, so that the outside of them, the actions of the body, will be pure, acceptable in the sight of God, needing no external law to govern them. In this new purified state, righteousness (doing the right thing) becomes a law unto itself. Paul teaches that we are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, “being transformed through the renewing of the mind,” which he does not understand, looking “through a glass darkly” as he puts it, which is to see something in an unclear or imperfect way, having limited understanding of divine matters. Understanding requires revelation. Any revelation Paul claims to have received came through Jesus and the Prophets. Paul will use the words of the Prophets to systematically tear down the law he once enforced, using violence if necessary— the same law Jesus said he came not to destroy. Paul will invent his own law— a spiritual law he calls “the law of Christ,” which he claims sets them free of the carnal law. To do away with the religious law of circumcision, Paul uses the revelation of the Prophet Jeremiah (4:4), which teaches circumcision of the heart, but Paul has no revelation of his own when it comes to this very important spiritual matter. He does not understand spiritual circumcision, providing no instruction for removing “the foreskins of the heart.” If Paul had received revelation on this spiritual matter, he would not have taught that the blood or life of the flesh of Jesus atoned for the sins of the people. He would have understood that every false belief we accepted in our heart, believing it was the truth, formed a layer of flesh— “the foreskins of the heart,” and that the removal, or death of the spiritual flesh formed by our false beliefs is what atones for our sins. Paul has perverted the words of the living God! How can the blood or life of Jesus (the death of truth) atone for our sins, when our sins are the result of the death of truth that has taken place in us because of our false beliefs? It is the blood or life of the flesh formed by our false beliefs that atones for our sins— the death of our beast of false beliefs.
Paul was the “blind Pharisee” of whom Jesus spoke, seeing things in an imperfect way. Paul said they would receive the holy Spirit following their baptism, causing Christians who claim to have the holy Spirit to “blaspheme against the holy Spirt.” The word “blaspheme” means “to speak impiously,” the word “impious” meaning “ungodly; profane.” Revelation corrected the ungodly and profane teaching that has prevented Christians from experiencing the transformation through which they could offer themselves as a living sacrifice, without spot or blemish— holy. It is not the holy Spirit one receives following baptism. It is the gift of the holy Spirit (a teaching of the first revelation; 1960-1974). The teacher illustrated it this way: There’s a knock at the door. You open the door. A man hands you a gift. The man is not the gift. The man delivers the gift. The holy Spirit is not the gift. The holy Spirit delivers the gift. The gift is the seed or word of God, which is truth. It was through God’s word that heaven and earth came into existence. It is through God’s word of truth that our spiritual heaven and earth comes into existence, “a new heaven and a new earth” symbolizing “a new mind and a new heart” (Revelation 21:1), our “first heaven and first earth” (formed by false perceptions and beliefs) passing away (a teaching of the second revelation; 1998-2005). Transformation refers to the act or process of changing in form, which takes place as our first creation gives way to our new creation— a process! We are not “transformed through the renewing of the mind,“ as Paul teaches. But rather, “our mind is renewed through the transformation of our heart,” which is why the ladder in Jacob’s dream was set up on earth, symbolizing the heart, and reached into heaven, symbolizing the mind. The ladder symbolizes the process of transformation, which begins in the heart, where the beast is. It is our beast of false beliefs that we are to sacrifice, the blood or life of which is offered up as we overcome our false (religious and personal) beliefs, through which we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, without spot or blemish— holy, keeping God’s one-time Sabbath Day, holy.
“For the life of the flesh— it is in the blood; I (myself) have given it to you upon the slaughter-site, to effect ransom for your lives.” Leviticus 17:11 (The Five Book of Moses). The first five Books is called the Torah, the third book, Leviticus, the book of religious law. The blood of the beast was “to effect ransom.” To effect is the power to produce an outcome or achieve a result. The blood sacrifice, which God gave to the children of Israel because of their spiritual disobedience, served the same purpose as the manna God gave them in the wilderness, which they ate of for forty years, until they entered the promised land, where they ate of the old corn. The manna symbolizes the law, added because of transgression. The old corn symbolizes the ancient spiritual truth. The Jews entered the promised land metaphorically at the coming of Messiah, who was the promise— the spiritual truth, which if obeyed, would have made them free of their fifteen hundred year-old bondage to the law, ending blood sacrifice, which like the quail God gave them in the wilderness, they should have been sick of by now. But they would rather continue with their perpetual blood sacrifices to atone for their sins, than to effect “ransom” through spiritual obedience to God’s spiritual Law— a deeper level of Torah observance, through which they would cover or make atonement for their sins, restoring their spiritual lives. They rejected their Messiah; the One providing the “ransom” by providing the spiritual instruction that would atone for their sins when acted upon. Christians are also guilty of rejecting their Messiah by following Paul, who teaches that Jesus provided their “ransom” by dying on the cross.
We are all guilty of the death of truth— the spiritual Jesus. Knowing that the blood of Jesus was poured out because of our sins, and not to make atonement for our sins, should result in a “guilt offering” [אָשָׁם֙]; a spiritual sacrifice made as payment for our sins through a spiritual death, which takes place through a spiritual judgment. What is to be put to death is our word of false beliefs, the “accuser” we will face in judgment, whether it be in this life, or in the afterlife— our choice. We “overcome” the false beliefs for which we will be judged through “the blood of the Lamb;” through “the life of the Truth.” If we complete God’s judgment, overcoming the false (religious and personal) beliefs that have ruled our lives, we will die a spiritual death, being dead to sin— our names written in the “Lamb’s book of life.” “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” Revelation 12:11
There were several Jewish sects living in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. The scroll read in Temple consisted of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, along with the latter books of the Prophets — 24 in all. This is called the Written Torah (Torah she-bich’tav). But there’s another Torah, called the Oral Torah (Torah she-ba’al peh), both of which, according to Jewish tradition, were revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai, which he transmitted to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, passed down as oral tradition until the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the seventieth year of the Common Era, the “seventy weeks” in the book of Daniel (9:24). A period of time given to the Jews to end their transgression, and make an end of their sins. Obedience to the spiritual works Jesus was attempting to transmit to his religious brothers would have done just that. Jesus, the source of divine revelation, could have provided them with a spiritual interpretation of both Torahs. But the spiritual truth was rejected, the detailed explanations of the Oral Torah interpreted through the lens of religion— through the carnal mind, which only added to the rules and regulations of the Written Law— a law that was added because of transgression, which along with their sins, remained.
Jesus had only three years to impart this spiritual knowledge, which would soon be usurped by the carnal thinking of a religious mind. Paul, raised with a religious mind-set, is responsible for the carnal thinking that is synonymous with the Church, assigning literal interpretations to that which is spiritual— the “veil of religious iniquity” that has prevented Christians from seeing and hearing the spiritual truth of God’s Word. It was Paul who taught a physical return of Jesus, interpreting a spiritual event through his religious carnal mind, which is why every date predicted for his return has been wrong. It was Paul who taught atonement for sins through blood— a religious law he perverted, making Jesus the beast, whose blood or life would save them from their sins— the lie that causes Christians to retain their sins.
DOES BLOOD SACRIFICE ATONE FOR OUR SINS?YES, but only if the sacrifice is performed spiritually. The flesh we are to sacrifice is the spiritual flesh formed by our word of false beliefs— the spiritual beast, the spiritual blood or life of which is consumed through the spiritual fire (Revelation 3:18) of the spiritual judgment Jesus spoke of (Matthew 19:28). The spiritual blood sacrifice takes place on the spiritual altar called the heart, the beast being the false beliefs of the heart, the heart being the seat of the soul— the throne, where the judgment takes place. We overcome the false beliefs for which we will be judged through “the blood of the Lamb;” through “the life of the Truth.” It is not the physical blood or life of the physical Jesus that atones for our sins, as Paul teaches. It is the spiritual blood, the life of the spiritual Jesus (truth) that atones for our sins. Two thousand years ago, the Jews were given a choice They chose the carnal law. Now, two thousand years later, it’s the Christians who will have to choose. Follow the carnal teachings of Paul, which leads to death. Or follow the spiritual teachings of Jesus, which leads to life.
In closing, I will answer the question I have been asked by Christians over the years, which is why would God allow Paul’s teachings to be in the Bible if they were not of God? The Bible is a history Book, containing man’s governmental, religious, and spiritual histories. Paul, to whom 13 or 14 books of the New Testament have been attributed, played a major part in man’s religious history because it was Paul’s doctrine that established the Christian religion. Paul was sent to the kings and to the children of Israel, to those of government and religion, which Paul, having been a Pharisee in a time when Jerusalem was under Roman rule, was familiar with. When the Council of Nicaea; the first ecumenical council of the Christian church, convened by Emperor Constantine in 325 AD to establish a unified doctrine for Christianity, it was a no brainer. Paul’s doctrine better fit their agenda, which was to establish one Christian religion for the people to follow. It worked, but that doesn’t mean it’s of God!
Written by Sandra L. Butler © 2025
THE BIBLE DECODED 