Show Us A Sign John 2:18-25 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

After Jesus had unleashed His wrath on the moneychangers and had run them out of the temple, the Pharisees wanted to know on what authority He justified His actions. The Pharisees wanted a sign from Jesus in order for Him to prove that He was from God Almighty. Today we still have people who want a sign. These are people whom want to live by sight and not by faith. They want to have a level of spirituality that demonstrates that they are able to do something powerful in the Holy Spirit. The Jews of Jesus day were no different than these people of our day. They both want a sign.

If you take the sign that the Pharisees asked for in this passage and compare it to the sign that they asked for in Matthew 12:38 you are going to know something. In both cases when the Pharisees asked for a sign Jesus did not give them one. Instead He told them to look for something that was going to happen in the future. On both occasions Jesus hinted at something that would happen after a three day period involving raising a temple. In the Book of Matthew He pointed them to the prophet Jonah. If you read Jonah chapter 2 you will see that Jonah cried out from the belly of Hell. This is reiterated in other books as well such as Psalm 16:10, Acts 2:27, 2:31, Eph. 4:8-10. If the Pharisees had examined the sign given in the Book of Jonah they could have discovered the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But they did not want to believe and therefore had trouble with the sign, much as the people of today.

In modern times the trouble comes from Gentiles seeking a sign. The problem with this is that in the Bible signs were never meant for the Gentiles.  Signs were meant only for the Jews and Jesus gave them their sign (John 2:19). When Gentiles begin to seek after a sign then there is a problem because the Bible says, “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom” – 1Cor. 1:22. Gentiles do not require a sign in order to believe the Gospel.

Jesus gave a sign to the Jews but they did not believe it because there are five things that can go wrong when you’re looking for a sign.

5 things that can go wrong with signs.  They can be:

Easily misunderstood – When Jesus said He would raise up the temple in three days He spoke of His body, not a building (John 2:20).  Some believe that the prophesies in the Bible have already been fulfilled, but no one has yet seen the sun darkened while the moon turned to blood as described in Acts 2:16-20. Charismatic churches have misunderstood the use of tongues which were only for a sign to the Jews during the time that the twelve Disciples were preaching the Gospel. Catholics misunderstood Jesus when he said that He would build the church on “this rock.”  He was referring to Himself as the rock and not Peter (1Cor. 3:11, Deut. 32:3-4, 1Peter 2:6).

Easily doubted – Misunderstanding leads to doubt because the thing that is expected due to the sign doesn’t appear in the way that was expected and so it is not recognized for what it is when it happens (John 20:25, Luke 24:22-26).

Easily magnified – People have a tendency to over-emphasize signs such as miracles, but Jesus never elevated the miracles He did above His words (John 2:25, 6:26, Acts 8:18-20).

Easily counterfeited – When Moses performed miracles the magicians duplicated many of them (Ex. 7:11, 2 Thes. 2:9, Rev. 13:14).

Easily forgotten – The Jews forgot the signs given in the wilderness and wanted to return to Egypt (Psalms 78:10-12, 78:32)