In the gospel according to John, there is a noticeable emphasis on the signs that Jesus performed. This is because every sign was an indicator of who He was. The signs signified that Jesus was the Son of God.
On the occasion recorded in John 2:13-22, Jesus drove the moneychangers from the temple, saying "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" In response, the Jews requested a sign to prove that He had the authority to put out the moneychangers. The lord answered them by saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews immediately assumed that Jesus was speaking of the temple of God in Jerusalem, and they mocked Him. Later, they would use this statement of the Lord against Him (Matt. 26:61). As He suffered on the cross, they mocked Him saying, "You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross." (Matt 27:40)
However, John tells us that the Lord was not speaking of the temple of God, but rather He spoke of the temple of His own body (John 2:21). This was the Lord's prophecy of His own resurrection. Jesus was identifying His resurrection as a sign of who He was and the authority that He had. John recorded that the disciples of Jesus later remembered that He made this prophecy, and they believed His word as a result of this sign (John 2:22).
It is this sign - the sign of the Lord's resurrection - that has become a sign for all times. There has never been a greater indicator of who Jesus is than His resurrection from the dead. For all the ages of the earth, the resurrection is the sign of the Christ.
Some who lived before the Lord came were looking ahead to His coming and the sign of His resurrection. David by the Holy Spirit prophesied of the resurrection of the Christ (Psalm 16:8-11; Acts 2:25-31). Jonah in the belly of the fish was a foreshadow of the Lord's resurrection (Matt. 12:39-40).
For those who lived at the time of the Lord's coming, it was this sign to which the apostles gave witness (Acts 1 :22). The apostles performed many signs themselves to give credence to their testimony, but their testimony was of the sign of the resurrection.
Today, we have that same proven testimony of the Lord's resurrection recorded in the Bible. It is that testimony to which we now look for a sign that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This sign of His resurrection is just as powerful now as it ever was to prove that Jesus is the Lord.
Therefore, Christians must herald the resurrection of Christ to the world. When the world questions whether or not Jesus is the Christ, the resurrection answers their question. When the world questions whether or not Jesus is the King of God's kingdom, the resurrection answers their question (Acts 2:33-36). When the world questions Jesus' authority, His resurrection is the answer (John 2:18-22).
We have no need of any further signs, for we have a sign for all ages. Those who feign signs today have no understanding of the greatest sign of all. When the Father raised Jesus up from the grave, He showed forever with certainty that He had made Jesus both Lord and Christ.
