Rabbi Kirt A. Schneider’s upcoming book, The Mystery of the Tabernacle: Ancient Secrets for Experiencing the Divine Presence, releasing May 5, 2026, reveals how the design and elements of the biblical Tabernacle serve as more than historical details—they provide a spiritual roadmap for drawing closer to God today. Written out of a concern that many believers feel spiritually distant despite doing the “right things,” the book teaches that true worship centers on surrender and intimacy with God, showing how each feature of the Tabernacle—from the sacrifices to the high priest’s garments—foreshadows the redemptive work of Jesus and calls believers
It’s Mike Trim, the Crawford Media Group. Today we’re joined by Rabbi Kurt A. Schneider of Discovering the Jewish Jesus. We want to talk to Rabbi Schneider about Mystery of the Tabernacle, his new book. Rabbi, thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER 01 :
Absolutely, my brother. Good to connect again.
SPEAKER 02 :
It is so good to have time with you. What a blessing. And Rabbi, tell us what inspired you to write the book Mystery of the Tabernacle?
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s really interesting because this was one of the first things that I began to teach over 20 years ago when I was traveling around to churches on Sunday mornings, teaching on the Jewish roots of the faith. I taught on the principle of the Sabbath and the presence of God. And this was the second or third topic that I was teaching on. So it goes back to my earliest days in teaching God’s people the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. And actually, my publisher reached out to me and they said, Rabbi, would you consider writing a book on this? And I thought, wow, the tabernacle was one of my foundational teachings. So I felt the Lord wanted me to move forward. Actually, Mike, I was getting kind of burned out. writing books because I’ve written many. And all of a sudden I was walking in my home one day and I saw in my mind’s eye, in my stomach, like a inkwell. It was like the Holy Spirit became in my stomach like an inkwell. And I knew that the Lord was telling me, I want you to continue to write books. So because this was foundational for me and I knew that the Lord was calling me to continue to write, I thought it would be helpful for God’s people. That’s why I wrote it.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, it’s a good time for us to also mention that you’ve got books, To Know Him by Name, A Journey into Divine Love, Messianic Prophecy Revealed and Called to Breakthrough. There are many books and people can go to the website if they have an interest, because while you might have felt, I don’t know if I want to write another book, we have learned so much from your books, from Taking the Rainbow Back, all of the initiatives of discovering the Jewish Jesus and things that you’ve started.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, praise God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank the Lord that we’re able to encourage each other to complete the journey here on Earth.
SPEAKER 02 :
It was something about revealing the tabernacle as a hidden code. So that hidden code concept.
SPEAKER 01 :
Explain that to us. Yes. This is what’s so powerful that really all of us should really, really put an emphasis on this. The Lord said to Moses, in the book of Shemot, we say in Hebrew, Exodus, chapter 25. The Lord said to Moses, Moses, I want you to build me. And the Hebrew word is mishkan, which we translate in English as tabernacle or sanctuary. So the Lord told Moses, I want you to build me this mishkan, this tabernacle, exactly according to the pattern that I show you. And I’m going to meet with you there. So every single part of the tabernacle was constructed according to God himself giving us a blueprint for it. In other words, it wasn’t like Moses said, hey, you know, the Lord said to build a tabernacle, what would be good? Rather, the Lord said, I want you to have a fence. The fence will be this long. I want you to have an altar of incense, Lord. It’ll look exactly like this. It’s to be made out of this. I want the colors to be this. So every single part of it was dictated by God himself, and it all has meaning. And it all speaks to us about the things that need to be in place in our life to walk in that intimate fellowship with him.
SPEAKER 02 :
Rabbi, that’s something in reading the Bible. We’ve all, at least I’ve struggled with thinking, why so precise? I know there’s a reason God did not waste anything in the Bible. And that helps me understand. Oh, okay. Very specific. Yes, yes. This particularly is so. When we start to feel distant, and that’s one of the things that you address in Mystery of the Tabernacle, that distance, I hear that a lot from people lately. What does the book, your book, address about that area of our life?
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, it’s interesting that when the Lord gave the instructions for the tabernacle, the first thing the Lord said is there needs to be a fence around it. And so what is a fence for? A fence is designed to keep things out, right? Like if you have a fence around your property, you’re trying to keep out things from coming on your property. I mean, if you’ve got a dog or something, you might put the fence up to keep things in. But a fence is designed to put a boundary up and to create a separation, right? So there’s a fence all around the tabernacle, and the fence was higher than the average American, not American, the average Israeli. So the people that were standing outside the fence, they couldn’t see what was going on, like, inside the fence. They couldn’t see the tabernacle. They couldn’t see what was going on inside. But the Lord, in his mercy, he made one entrance inside. into the tabernacle from the fence. You couldn’t just wander in from any direction. You couldn’t, you know, just stroll in. If you were going to go into the tabernacle, which was where God’s presence was, you had to enter in through the one narrow way that the Lord had made. And of course, this speaks to us prophetically of the fact that we can’t just, you know, create our own spirituality. There’s only one way into a relationship with the Father, and that’s through Yeshua and the blood of the Lamb.
SPEAKER 02 :
It sounds like that’s a little bit related to the hidden code of the tabernacle because there was that very specific, there’s one entrance, the very specific dimensions, it will be exactly this, there’s symmetry, just all those things that reading the Bible without this context, it’s hard for at least me to understand. Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, yeah. Let me maybe just walk our viewers, our listeners through a little bit to kind of give them an idea of what this looks like, because it really is a pathway. It is a blueprint for how to experience intimacy with God today. So the first thing is, is the fence. What’s God saying? He’s saying that man’s sin has separated him from his creator. But in his mercy, God made a way in. Of course, Yeshua said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man comes to the Father but through me. And then you walk in through the entrance. And the first thing that you see is an altar, the brazen altar. And the worshiper would enter into the one door. And Yeshua, of course, said, I am the door. He that enters from me shall be saved. And they came to the altar. And the worshiper would bring a sacrifice with them, an animal. And he would give the animal to the priest. The priest then would bind the animal onto the brazen altar. And the worshiper would lay his hands on the animal and press his weight into the animal. He was like symbolically, Mike, transferring his sin into the animal. And then the priest would put the animal to death and they would take the blood of the animal and smear it around the four horns of the altar. And what’s so beautiful about this is the fact, I mean, it doesn’t sound beautiful, but what is beautiful about it is the fact that we see such a clear picture of how the only way to have access into god’s presence is by having a blood atonement and that’s the first thing that happened when someone entered into the tabernacle they brought an innocent animal the sin of the worshiper was transferred into the animal the animal was put to death the blood of that animal was smeared around the altar and now the worshiper was able to stand before the lord holy and blameless the lord took the guilt away And this is important, so important. I can’t, you know, we can’t even say this, that today with so few people really being convinced that Jesus is the only way. I mean, so many people that we know, like in churches, they feel they love God. They identify as Christians and they are, you know, God’s the one that knows, but they’re not really convinced that Jesus is the only way. They think like, well, I’m Christian. I was raised Christian. But they don’t really understand why people that are not following Jesus can’t go to heaven, because they don’t understand that without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness of sin.
SPEAKER 02 :
We’re speaking with Rabbi Schneider. He is the host and the voice behind Discovering the Jewish Jesus. All of our websites, just go to those websites. It’ll give you the various times that Discovering the Jewish Jesus airs on our stations. Then the book is The Mystery of the Tabernacle. And Rabbi, without… I know this is a bold thing to say, but without the mystery of the tabernacle, reading your book, it’s just going to stay mysterious for so many of us that read the Bible because there’s so many insights, including what you just said about that transfer of sin that I’ve never understood before.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, I mean, it’s a rock. I mean, you continue on in the tabernacle pattern. And after atonement was made, the other piece of furniture, other than the brazen altar that was outside of the tabernacle. In other words, there’s a fence around the tabernacle. There’s an outer area that’s outside, you know, with the sun beating down. That’s where the altar was. And another piece of furniture that was there. was what was called the brass laver, and it was filled with water. And here’s what’s really interesting. The brass laver was made, and the Torah specifically commanded this, it had to be made out of the mirrors of the women that ministered outside the tabernacle. It wasn’t made from anything. It specifically had to be made from mirrors. So we think, well, remembering that every piece of the tabernacle meant something. So we ask, well, what’s a mirror for? Well, obviously, we all know a mirror is made to look at yourself. So think about it. The priest every day would have to go to this brass laver before entering into the tabernacle itself. before entering into the holy place, and they would have to wash in the brass laver. And what did they experience when they leaned over in that hot desert sun beaming down? What did they experience when they bent over to wash in the brass laver? They saw a reflection of themselves because it was made from mirrors. And what’s the point? The point is that if we’re going to be washed of sin, because that’s what the brass laver was for, to wash, If we’re going to be washed of sin, Mike, and our listeners today, we have to be willing to look at ourselves. You know, we have to examine ourselves. Like Paul said, if you examine yourself, then you’re not going to experience God’s judgment that will hurt. So I just think it’s so important that we’re constantly like lifting ourselves up to the Lord, examining ourselves in his presence. Like, what’s my motive? Is my motive pure? Why did I do what I just did? Or why do I want to do that? And as we continue to examine ourselves, as we continue to look at ourselves in the mirror of the Holy Spirit, we let the Holy Spirit be the mirror and show us the truth about ourselves and then agree with him about what he’s showing us, what happens is we’re cleansed. You know, if we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So it’s an ongoing process of being self-aware in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER 02 :
Rabbi, that’s so good. And that’s so different than what the world and our culture tells us. So different. I guess my last question then would be, these patterns will deepen our faith. And it meant it deepened your faith. It meant something to you where you thought, I’m not writing another book. And then God calls you to write this book. Tell us what it meant to you and also what it will help us with the deepening our faith.
SPEAKER 01 :
I mean, I just love it because there are so many voices that are speaking to us every single day, right? Every single day, there’s so many voices speaking to us. Even many of our listeners right now, and God bless you all, God’s beloved listeners that are listening to this interview right now, we have so many voices that are speaking to us, right? We’ve got our pastors, we’ve got all the books we read, we got all the things we’re picking up from the world, we got our news, we got all these voices that are speaking to us And in all these voices, a lot of people, they’re like, even if they don’t realize it, they’re kind of directionless. Like, well, what do I pay attention to? What is the true path? And so when we simply get back to the word of God. particularly in this study of the tabernacle, it just strengthens us. It’s like we can block out all the other voices. I mean, even when it gets to preaching today, so much of the preaching today is it’s all man centered. It’s all about what God can do for us. But yet when you look at the tabernacle, it wasn’t first about what God can do for us. It was first about us coming to him and worshiping him. It was just about recognizing who he is and how to come into alignment with him. And then the blessing comes. So the study of this book and even speaking of it, even me talking about it, I always get revived because it just brings me back to the basics. It brings me back to simple, profound truth. It helps me to focus and be encouraged and to be strong in faith, knowing that I’m walking in the truth. Not that I’m doing it perfectly, but I’m talking about being in alignment with God’s word. And that’s what happens when people meditate on God’s word when it’s made simple, when it’s made clear. I think the most profound truth and life-changing truth is oftentimes, Mike, the most simple.
SPEAKER 02 :
Those are hallmarks of what you give us in discovering the Jewish Jesus every day. And this book, The Mystery of the Tabernacle, sounds like it will do the same thing for us. But we’ve got to take that step and get it. How do we get it, Rabbi?
SPEAKER 01 :
The best way is just to go to Amazon. You can look me up as an author, Rabbi Schneider, and you’ll see it’s going to be released in May. So now’s the time to get it. And a lot of other books there as well. Or you can go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com, our website, and purchase it there as well.
SPEAKER 02 :
Rabbi, such a blessing to have you again with us today. Thank you for making the time.
SPEAKER 01 :
I love you, brother. God bless you. Thank you for interviewing me. Thank you for having me on the channel. And it’s a great blessing to be broadcasting on your network, Mike.
