The Signs of Christ

This morning we will continue our study of John with John 2:13-25. Before we start, let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

-PRAY-

-Read John 2:13-25-

Introduction – The Signs of Christ

Starting last week with the first part of John 2, and continuing this week, we come to a concept that John frames much of his gospel around – signs. Much of the first half of the book of John is devoted to signs that Christ performed, in fact there are seven major signs in the first half of John that John narrates for us and a multitude of other signs that John either mentions briefly or simply assumes in the narrative. Signs drive much of John’s gospel. Christ uses His signs to teach. People follow Christ because of His signs. People misunderstand the signs. People, especially the Pharisees, demand clearer signs. Signs are so crucial to John’s gospel, that when he is wrapping up his narrative, John says this:

 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these [signs] (are written) [have been described] so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

So, signs are central to the book of John. We saw the first major sign last week, the turning of water into wine at the wedding in Cana and we come to several more signs this week at the end of chapter 2. Before we examine these signs, though, I want to consider signs for a few minutes.

First, when John talks about a sign, what does he mean – what is a sign? I’ve attempted to come up with a definition that will help us understand what a sign is based on what occurs during a sign and what a sign does. There are probably others who could better define a sign, but the definition I will use this morning is: a sign is a supernatural or highly unusual act of Christ that serves: 1) to demonstrate who He is; 2) to manifest His glory; 3) to demonstrate His authority; and 4) to create or nourish faith. I’ll repeat that - a sign is a supernatural or highly unusual act of Christ that serves: 1) to demonstrate who He is; 2) to manifest His glory; 3) to demonstrate His authority; and 4) to create or nourish faith. So there are two parts to the definition. First, there is an act of Christ that is supernatural, what we would call a miracle, or that is, at least, highly unusual. Second, this act accomplishes four things. First, it demonstrates who He is. We see this clearly in John 6:

14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!"

The people saw the sign and they understood that the sign told them something about who Christ was.

Second, it manifests Christ glory. We saw this last week at the beginning of John 2:

11This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

Third, signs demonstrate Christ’s authority. We are actually studying one of the clearest passages where we see this today, in verses 18 and 19:

 18So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?" 19Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

And fourth, signs create or nourish faith. We have seen this twice already. In John 2:11, it says His disciples believed because of the sign and in John 20 it says that John recorded the signs so that we might believe. As we consider the signs of Christ, I believe each sign does all four of these things, but an individual sign may show more clearly one of these things. For example, a particular sign may demonstrate Christ’s authority in a very clear way, although it will also demonstrate who He is, manifest His glory and create or nourish faith.

In spite of what signs demonstrate to us, Christ’s signs were often, or even usually, very misunderstood. In fact, as you go through the gospel of John you see the people misunderstand the signs, you see the Pharisees and the leaders of the people misunderstand the signs, you even see the disciples misunderstand the signs. Because the signs were so misunderstood I think they can be compared to parables. In fact, I think it would be safe to say that signs are the active equivalent of parables. Parables were ways of Christ teaching that usually confused everyone even though they clearly taught eternal truths. Similarly, signs were ways of Christ acting that usually confused everyone even though they clearly taught eternal truths. So, Christ uses signs to both display and to hide who He was so that, as it says, ‘they may be seeing but never perceiving, hearing but never understanding.” Christ says this about His parables in Matthew 13:

10Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" 11And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:   

"'You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. 15For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.'

 16But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

In John 12, John says nearly the exact same thing about Christ’s signs:

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

    "Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"

39Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them."

We see this happen clearly in John 6, after the feeding of the five thousand. Christ goes across the lake and the people follow Him. When the people catch up, John records Christ’s words to them:

26Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

Christ says that they didn’t see signs but that they ate loaves. In one sense, they did see the sign but in a bigger sense, they didn’t see the sign. They were seeing but not perceiving. They ate the bread and didn’t understand what it meant. So, as we approach signs, we should remember they are like parables in that there are probably loads of hidden meaning in what may appear to be simple or confusing actions.

John discusses signs at length in his gospel for a reason. The synoptic gospels often spend their focus on what Christ did. This is a severe over simplification, but for reasons of comparison we’ll use it. Matthew, Mark and Luke spend a lot of time describing what Christ did and what Christ taught during His ministry. John on the other hand wants to describe who Christ is. Therefore, most of the actions of Christ in the gospel of John are signs – they symbolize who Christ is. John discusses what Christ did in order to describe who Christ was.

So, now that we have defined signs, let’s return to the passage. Here, in the second half of John 2, we see three signs in order. The first sign is Christ’s cleansing of the temple. The second sign is Christ’s answer to the Jews and the third sign is John’s commentary at the end of the chapter. I want to spend the remainder of the morning examining these three signs and what they symbolize to us.

The Sign of Cleansing the Temple

So, we’ll start with the first sign – the cleansing of the temple. As I go through the three signs I’ll spend a moment setting up the situation of the sign and then I’ll move into interpreting the sign. Before I start setting up the first sign, though, I need to do a moment of harmonizing. There is a story of Christ cleansing the temple in all four of the gospels. Here in John, it happens at the beginning of Christ’s ministry while in Matthew Mark and Luke it occurs during the last week of Christ life. There are two ways scholars usually harmonize these. The first is to say that all four passages refer to the same event. John is simply not putting events in the correct order, favoring some other method of arranging things while Matthew, Mark and Luke give us the correct timing. The second is to say that there are actually two different times that Christ cleansed the temple – once at the beginning of His ministry and once at the end. So, John tells us about the first time and Matthew, Mark and Luke record the second. There is no firm consensus either way, but I lean toward the second interpretation, that there are two events – although I can admit I don’t know which is actually true.

But, for the purposes of this morning, I will be treating the event in John separately from the accounts in the synoptics.

Back to the passage, to set up the situation, Jesus has just traveled back to Jerusalem from Galilee for the Passover. At some point during the Passover Christ entered the temple. As He entered the court of the Gentiles, Christ looked around and instead of seeing Gentiles worshiping God, He saw a bunch of merchants selling sacrificial animals and trading currencies. Now, because of how we were all taught the story, we likely instantly think that Christ is upset because the merchants were cheating the people and perhaps this is true. But this isn’t what is recorded. Each gospel records that Christ gets angry not because of what they were doing but where they were doing it. They were selling and trading in the temple courts, courts that were to be dedicated to the worship of God. The act of selling and trading in these courts actively demonstrated that the people did not have a desire to rightly worship God, even though their actions, selling sacrificial animals, may have appeared otherwise. The merchants didn’t want to worship God, they wanted to make money. This makes Christ angry and He takes a whip and starts to drive the merchants out of the temple. This must have been a fairly impressive event. There were probably a lot of merchants there, not to mention bystanders and the temple guards. So, there is one man with a makeshift whip driving dozens of merchants single handedly out of the temple while the bystanders and temple guards simply stand by amazed. This is the first sign.

So, to the interpretation of the sign, what does this action teach us about Christ? I believe there are at least four things this sign symbolizes to us.

First, this sign is a symbol of the authority of Christ over the temple. Christ enters the temple and takes charge. He pronounces what should happen, that the temple should be a house of prayer, and He carries out His pronouncement, by driving the merchants out of the temple. So, in effect, Christ demonstrates that He is the great High Priest over the temple of God. He is the one with authority to declare what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in the worship of God and He also has authority to carry out His declarations. Christ by clearing out the temple demonstrates His authority over the worship of God.

Second, this sign is a symbol of the holiness of Christ and His zeal for the correct worship of God. Christ cared that God was not being worshiped as He ought to be worshipped. Christ cared that the people were giving superficial service to God, selling sacrificial animals, and neglecting the true worship of God. Christ holiness and zeal drove Him to fix the situation. Christ could not abide with the worship of God being corrupted. So, Christ by clearing out the temple demonstrates His burning holy perfection.

The next two symbols are prophetic symbols. That is, by His actions Christ fulfills or associates Himself with an Old Testament prophecy. Christ’s act of clearing out the temple has one very obvious prophetic symbol and one more obscure prophetic symbol. The more obvious prophetic symbol is given to us in the text. It says:

17His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

This is a quote from Psalm 69 that we read earlier. I had us read all of Psalm 69 because, in clearing out the temple, Christ declared that Psalm 69 was ultimately about Him. So, in Christ’s act of clearing out the temple

we can learn an enormous amount about who Christ is and what He has come to do. We won’t read the entire Psalm again right now, but I want to go through the sections of the Psalm and what they tell us about Christ.

Psalm 69 starts out by talking about the unmerited persecution of the Psalmist which culminates in verse 4:

4 More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?

Christ declares that He is the one who is hated without cause. That though He did nothing wrong, He would be persecuted by His enemies.

The Psalm then tells us that the persecution of the Psalmist is for the glory of God. In verses 7-9:

7For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. 8I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons. 9For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

Christ declares that He would bear reproach to the ultimate glory of God.

In verses 13-18, the Psalmist looks to God for aid:

16Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me. 17 Hide not your face from your servant; for I am in distress; make haste to answer me. 18Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!

Christ declares that, though He would bear reproach, God would raise Him up again

In verses 22-28, the Psalmist declares that God will judge those who persecute him:

22 Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. 24Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. 25May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents. 26For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded. 27 Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you. 28Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

Christ declares that those who persecute Him and refuse to believe will be judged.

And, finally, in verses 32-36, the Psalmist sees the salvation of God:

32When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive. 33For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners. 34Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. 35For God will save Zion and build

up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; 36 the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

Christ declares that through His dishonor and suffering the salvation of Zion will be revealed.

So, in Christ’s act of cleansing the temple we can learn what Christ came to do and what the outcome of it is. Christ declares that He is the one who would bear unmerited reproach and suffering to the glory of God, to the judgment of evil and to the salvation of Zion.

There is one more prophetic reference here that is not explicitly mentioned in the text. The specific act of clearing out the temple is a partial fulfillment of prophecy. That merchants would be cleaned out of the temple is prophesied in Zechariah 14:

20And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "Holy to the LORD." And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar. 21And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day.

If any of you are following along in your Bibles, your translation may say ‘Canaanite’ instead of ‘trader’. The word there is literally ‘Canaanite’ but the language of the day made the word ‘ Canaanite’ and ‘trader’ interchangeable because the Jews said that all Canaanites were traders and all traders were Canaanites. The word Canaanite is translated in all translations as trader many times because it is often found in situations where the nationality ‘Canaanite’ does not make any sense. Zechariah prophesied that the temple would be cleaned of merchants.

The end of Zechariah in chapters 12-14 is a promise for the future restoration of Israel through the Messiah. Zechariah 12 sets up the prophecy by promising salvation for Jerusalem and to restore the house of David. The end of Zechariah 12 says that the way the house of David will be restored is to look on ‘Him who they have pierced.’ Actually, I want to read this verse:

10"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Notice it says, “when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced.” The pierced one is identified with God Himself in Zechariah 12 – by looking on him whom they have pierced the people are looking at God. The prophecy tells us that the Messiah who would come to save Jerusalem would be identified as God and would be pierced for salvation.

The first verse in Zechariah 13 explains why the Messiah would be pierced for salvation:

1 "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

And Zechariah 13 closes with the prophecy:

Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;

So, Zechariah 12 and 13 clearly describe the Messiah, who He is and what He will do. Zechariah 14 is a continuation of the same prophecy, but talks about the culmination of the Messiah’s work. So, in chapter 14 we see statements like:

4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.

And:

8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.  9And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

And:

16Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. 17And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.

And, finally, the statement that brought us to Zechariah to start with:

20And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "Holy to the LORD." And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar. 21And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the LORD of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and take of them and boil the meat of the sacrifice in them. And there shall no longer be a trader in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day.

So, by cleansing the temple of merchants, Christ evokes all of the imagery about the Messiah from Zechariah 12-14. He claims that He is the Messiah that comes to save Jerusalem. He claims equality with God. He claims that through His suffering He will save His people from their sins. He claims that He has inaugurated the day of Zechariah 14 the day when the Mount of Olives will shake and from Jerusalem and river will flow to the world – imagery of the gospel going forth from Jerusalem. He claims that He will bring the nations into Jerusalem to worship God. He claims that He will make everything about His people holy – so holy that the bowls they eat out of are as the bowls of the temple.

Knowing the rest of the story, we see that Christ did very specifically fulfill the prophecies of Zechariah 12 and 13. The prophecies of chapter 14 are a little less clear – but there is a good reason for this. Zechariah 14 is part of the same prophecy as chapters 12 and 13, but it talks of a different day. So, by clearing the temple, Christ claims that He is fulfilling the prophecies of chapters 12 and

13 and that He is inaugurating the fulfillment of chapter 14. So, the fulfillment of chapter 14 started with Christ, but the final fulfillment has not happened, but Christ, in clearing out the temple is saying, this prophecy is what I came to fulfill.

So, just in the act of Christ clearing out the temple we learn a wealth about Christ if we have eyes to see. We see Him claim authority over the worship of God. We see Him demonstrate His utter holiness. We see Him claim to be the Messiah of Psalm 69, the one who would bear unmerited reproach and suffering to the glory of God, to the judgment of evil and to the salvation of Zion. We see Him claim to be the Messiah of Zechariah 12-14, who is equal with God and suffers to save His people from their sins.

The Sign of Christ’s Resurrection

There is much more that could be said about the cleansing of the temple, but we’ll go ahead and move on to the second sign we see in this passage – the sign of the temple being rebuilt. Again, we’ll start by setting up the sign. The setting of this sign is the action of the last sign. Christ has entered the temple, made a whip and driven out the merchants. If you were at the temple the day Christ did it, it would have been an amazing and unexpected sight. But then something happens that is perhaps even more amazing. You already saw a relatively unknown Galilean somehow convince all of the merchants to go running. Then the Jewish leaders show up, which is expected – the Jewish leaders would not be too happy about someone messing up the temple trade. But then the unexpected happens, instead of calling out the temple guard and arresting Jesus, they simply ask Him a question. Why not just arrest Him? No civilized society would allow a madman to run around disrupting business or religious practices and the Jews were even more protective of their temple than most.

For the last several minutes we’ve been talking about the symbology of what Christ did in the temple and I think the reason they don’t outright arrest Him is they actually have some idea what the sign meant. The Jewish leaders were very well versed in the prophecies of the Old Testament, and they probably understood, at least to some degree, what Christ was claiming when He cleared out the temple. But, as we read the story, we realize that they don’t accept what Christ was claiming. They understand but they don’t accept. So, they come up to Jesus and ask, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

That question really means, what authority do you have to claim all of this for yourself? What authority do you have to cleanse our temple? What authority do you have to claim you are the Messiah? Ok, we think we understand your claim, now you had better prove it. Show us a sign to demonstrate your authority. Then the third amazing thing happens. If you were there, you’d see two options. Christ could either say no, I won’t, or He could give some miraculous sign to prove Himself. But, He doesn’t really say yes or no. He doesn’t say yes because He doesn’t actually do something miraculous, but He doesn’t just walk away either. What He does is promise them that He would provide a sign. He says:

"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

Now, in one way, the Jews understand what He says, but in a bigger way they don’t understand what He says. They understand that if Christ could do this, He would have provided a sign that proved His claims.

They don’t come back and say, “That doesn’t prove anything, we need a better sign.” But, on the other hand, they have no idea what Christ is talking about. They are sitting in the temple that Herod built and, quite naturally, they think Christ is talking about the enormous white stones that make up the temple. So, they basically say, “there is no way you could do that.” So, the discussion ends at an impasse, Christ claims He will show a sign, the Jews don’t think He can do it.

Now to the symbology of the sign. When Christ gave this sign, not even the disciples immediately understood what He was claiming. So, for our benefit, John clearly gives the interpretation of Christ’s sign. John records:

20The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

So, the sign that Christ’s promises is, that when they killed Him, three days later He would rise again. So, what does Christ’s resurrection tell us? There are so many things that Christ’s resurrection symbolizes to us that there is no way I could spend a part of one sermon to cover them, so this morning I’ll limit myself to what Christ was communicating in this story about His resurrection – what was the sign that He was giving here.

The primary thing, here, that Christ symbolizes through His resurrection is His authority to make the claims He has been making. The Jews ask Him to prove Himself, and Christ responds that this is how He will prove Himself. The resurrection proves that everything Christ claimed about Himself is true. This is self-evident. If you believe the resurrection happened, you must believe everything Christ said about Himself. Paul uses this line of reasoning at the opening of Romans:

1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Christ made many claims during His ministry, and Paul declares that all of them are powerfully proven by His resurrection from the dead. If Christ rose again, everything He said is true.

More specifically, though, the resurrection specifically demonstrates Christ’s authority. We’ll go to a very familiar passage – Matthew 28:

16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

We all know this verse, but let’s think about the setting for a minute. This is recorded right after the resurrection and the disciples are meeting Jesus. Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Was Jesus actually given new authority after the resurrection? Well, in one way, the answer is

yes, I believe that, somehow, Christ gained an even greater authority that He had before. But Christ always had all authority in heaven and earth. So, I think a larger part of what He is saying is that, “My resurrection proves that I have all authority in heaven and on earth.” So, the first symbol of the resurrection is a direct answer to the Jews question – how are you going to prove you’re authority. I’ll prove my authority by rising from the dead.

As we consider this, though, it begs the question, ‘why didn’t Christ say plainly that He would rise from the dead?’ Why did He instead talk about rebuilding the temple? There are two reasons, I think. First, as we have already discussed this morning, signs are something like parables. They are meant to enlighten those whom God desires to enlighten, but they are meant to blind those whom God desires to blind – seeing but not perceiving, hearing but not understanding. But I think there is more than that. I think there is another symbol wrapped up in Christ’s answer.

There is a very interesting prophecy about the rebuilding of the temple in Zechariah 6:

9And the word of the LORD came to me: 10"Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. 11Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12And say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. 13 It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."' 14And the crown shall be in the temple of the LORD as a reminder to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah.

 15 "And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the LORD. And you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God."

Now, Joshua, or Jeshua, the son of Jehozadak did return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. But, he went back with Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jeconiah, the rightful heir to the Davidic throne. So, there are two problems with attributing the fulfillment of this prophecy to Joshua himself. First, the Davidic throne was not reestablished. Cyrus was still king of Persia when the temple was rebuilt and Judah was a province of Syria. Zerubbabel was governor of Judah, but not king. Second, even if Zerubbabel was considered king, the prophecy says that the crown will reside in the temple and that a priest would sit on the throne. In other words, the priest and the king would be the same person. When Joshua rebuilds the temple, he does not become king nor does Zerubbabel become a priest, the offices are not joined. Observant Jews understood this prophecy to pertain to the future messiah.

So, when Christ tells the Jews that He is the one who will rebuild the temple He claims that He is the great High priest of Zechariah 6, the one who would truly fulfill the prophecy. He, amazingly, shares the same name, Jeshua, with the High Priest in Zechariah, and He claims that He is the one to rebuild

the temple. He claims that He is the one who would be both high priest and king. He claims that He is the branch of David’s line. He claims that He is the one who will restore the nation of Israel.

There is a parallel prophecy in Haggai 2:

1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 2"Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 'Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.'"

Understanding that the prophecy in Zechariah is ultimately about Christ, we see that this prophecy is also ultimately about Christ. Christ claims that He is the one who will bring all of the nations to the temple of God and He claims that His glory will be greater than the glory of the Old Covenant temple – ‘the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former glory.’

So, Christ cases the sign of His resurrection in terms of the temple not only to blind the Jews but also to claim the title of the Great High Priest of Zechariah 6. So, although it may be somewhat obscure, Christ does actually give an excellent answer to those who questioned where His authority came from. He has authority over the temple because He is the great High Priest who is also king.

The Sign of Christ’s Omniscience

Now we come to the third sign at the end of John 2. We aren’t really told how the temple scene finishes except, apparently, Christ was not arrested. We aren’t really sure why, but I think there are four possible reasons. First, the Jews may have understood enough of what Christ was claiming that they couldn’t arrest Him on the spot. Second, the Jews may have gotten in such a heated discussion about the temple that they forgot about arresting Christ. Third, it may have been a miraculous intervention; God simply prevented them from arresting Jesus. The fourth reason may be what we see in the next few verses. It says:

23Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

It may be that because of the following Jesus had, the Jewish leaders didn’t feel they could arrest Him. In any case, though, Christ is free in Jerusalem for the rest of the Passover feast, which starts to set up the third sign.

Perhaps because of what happened at the temple, and probably because of other miraculous signs that John does not record, many people started following Christ. But then John makes a play on words. Literally it says, “many believed in his name…but Jesus on His part did not himself believe them.” They believed Him, He didn’t believe them. Commentators from Augustine to Gill have interpreted this many different ways, but I think the most straightforward way of understanding this is that, though they professed some sort of belief, the people did not truly believe Christ. I think this is the most likely reading because of the terminology John uses, he says that, “many believed in His name when they saw the signs that He was doing.” When John says that, “many believed in His name,” he is saying that they believed He had authority. A person’s name designates their authority. For example a couple hundred years ago, someone might say to do something in the name of the king, or by the king’s authority. So, I think John is tying this to the temple narrative. In the temple, the Jews question the authority of Christ. When Christ wasn’t arrested in the temple, people decided that there was something to Christ. Then Christ kept doing miraculous things and the people just kept following Him. They were simply amazed at what Christ was able to do. They didn’t believe in Him as the sacrificial Messiah as Christ had been claiming to be, they just followed the signs. So, they believed on His name, they thought it was amazing what He was able to do, but He didn’t believe them. Now all of this is the setting to the third sign. The third sign is the last verse in the chapter, where John says why Christ didn’t believe them:

because he knew all people 25and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

So, let’s look at the symbology of the third sign. The first thing, I think, that we need to notice about this third sign is that it was not done so that the people could see it. As far as I can tell, the people could not tell that Jesus did not entrust Himself to them. The people could not see this sign; this sign is recorded for our sakes.

The symbology of the sign is fairly straightforward, though. By knowing what was in a man, Christ demonstrated Himself to be God. We’ll look at just a few references. First Job 28:

24For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

And Psalm 11:

 4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.

Psalm 33 says:

13The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; 14from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.

And Psalm 44 says:

21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.

God is clearly the one who knows the hearts of men. Christ demonstrates He is God by having the knowledge that only God has.

Christ demonstrates that He is God, again, in His choice. Christ chose not to entrust Himself to the people. He communicated to them by signs, and as we discussed about, signs, although clearly demonstrating who Christ is, are meant to blind those whom God chooses to blind. We saw a few minutes ago what John says about signs in John 12:

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

    "Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"

39Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them."

Christ chose to hide Himself from the people behind His signs. This is another attribute that belongs to God. When God agrees to reveal His glory to Moses, this is what God says in Exodus 33:

"I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

God will be gracious to whom He will be gracious and will show mercy on whom He will show mercy. These are the same phrases quoted by Paul in Romans 9 in his discussion of sovereign choice. Christ is taking the prerogative that God reserves for Himself demonstrating that He, again, is equal with God.

Conclusion – Listening to the Signs

That finishes our examination into the signs of Christ in this passage and we’ve skipped over a lot of practical implications of these verses. In the cleansing of the temple we could have a very good discussion about the necessity for the right worship of God and how God hates when our worship of Him is corrupt. We could also have an excellent discussion about Christ’s righteous anger in the temple and His zeal for the worship of God and how we should and should not emulate Christ in His actions here. All of these are great implications of this passage, but I skipped over them for two reasons. First, because we only have so much time on Sunday morning to discuss the passage. Second, because none of these are the main point – they are great implications, but the main point is about Christ and who He is and since we are limited in time, I wanted to trace out the main point this morning. But, even just sticking to the main point, I think there is one practical implication that I would like to close with.

Let’s consider the three signs. The first sign is a very public sign, Christ does it in the middle of the temple, which, during the Passover, would have been a very large crowd. But, unless you dig into the sign, it’s a relatively small claim (now, when I say relatively, it is relative to the next two claims). Christ evidently claimed authority over the temple. From here, the signs get more and more powerful. The second sign is somewhat bigger. He claims that when they kill Him, He will rise again. A claim that God ultimately approves of Christ’s ministry. The sign is proclaimed to the same crowd, but I would say it’s a little more hidden. Christ proclaiming authority over the temple by acting out His authority is, at face value, a very clear symbol. You don’t misunderstand it, you either believe He had authority to cleanse the temple or you don’t. This time Christ shows the sign to everyone, but He hides it with His words. He intentionally confuses them by talking about the temple. He could have said, “I will rise again,” but He said, “I will rebuild the temple.” The third sign is still more powerful, by His actions He claims to be God Himself in the flesh. But again the sign is more hidden. In fact, as we discussed earlier, I don’t think the people even saw the last sign. So, the signs get more and more powerful but they also get more and more hidden.

Now let us compare this with the people’s response. The response to the first sign I believe, as I said before, that the people, at least somewhat, understood it, but rejected it. They understood He was claiming authority over the temple, but they didn’t believe He had authority. So, they question Him asking for a sign. The response to the second sign is still rejection. This time it appears that they don’t really understand the sign at all, but even in their misunderstanding they reject it. They don’t think He can rebuild the temple in three days. So, we see that each time the people reject a sign, the next sign becomes more hidden.

Then there are a second set of responses. There are a large number of people that follow Christ because of His signs. They like the signs, they think the signs are pretty amazing, but they really don’t understand or deal with who Christ is. They claim to believe, but they ignore or dismiss most of Christ’s claim about Himself. Again, the longer they follow Christ, the signs get more hidden and Christ ends up rejecting them.

So, what can we take from this? First, it is dangerous to reject the claims of Christ. If you are here today and understand the claims of Christ but have not run for refuge to Christ, the best thing you can do is run to Christ today. The longer you reject the claims of Christ, the harder it will be to accept them. Christ will hide Himself from you. It doesn’t get easier to accept Christ. We talked about this at length in Amos when Amos proclaimed a fast of God’s word. When the people rejected God, God withdrew the possibility of mercy. Therefore, as Psalms and Hebrews says:

Today, if you hear his voice, 8do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

And Paul says, in II Corinthians 6:

2For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you."  Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

And Isaiah 55 says:

6 "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

If you understand who Christ is, don’t continue in your rejection, seek Him today. To do otherwise is to invite Christ to withdraw Himself from you.

Second, if you are here today proclaiming belief, but have never truly treated with Christ you are also in a dangerous position. Those who followed after Christ falsely were rejected by Christ, and, as far as we know, they didn’t even know it. Don’t claim the name of Christ and fail to see who He is. Again, the imperative is the same – today if you hear His voice, do not harder your hearts.

There is one more response to the signs that we see in the passage here. John says, in reference to Christ claim to rebuilding the temple:

22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

The disciples were, in some ways, very similar to the other two groups, but they were also very different. Similar to the other groups, they didn’t really understand the signs and, at many times, they didn’t fully understand who Christ was. But they had been chosen by Christ to be His and they followed Him truly. And, since they were Christ’s, the sign was revealed to them. It may have taken a long time, but they understood.

So, if you are here today as a true follower of Christ, continue to learn from the signs. Listen to the signs, study the signs and grow in your knowledge and love of Christ. See Christ as the great High Priest. See Christ as the suffering Messiah. Understand even deeper what this means. And love Christ.