Matthew 23:18

“And, ‘Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing, but whoever shall swear by the gift that is on it, he is a debtor'.”

Jesus gives a further example of their folly. They declare that to swear by the altar signified nothing, while to swear by the gifts on the altar was essentially binding, and made the person a debtor to fulfil their oath. This again revealed the same attitude of concentration on the means of worship (with which they felt closely connected), rather than on the central truth that they could only come to God through the shedding of blood as symbolised by the God-provided altar. We can compare here the great vision of Ezekiel where the Temple on the high mountain away from Jerusalem was a heavenly one. There was no suggestion that it be built. The only thing required to be built was an altar, for that was physically necessary so that they could approach God by the shedding of blood through His heavenly Temple. Once they had this they could worship without an earthly Temple through the heavenly Temple. Thus the altar was seen as having a central place in the worship of God.