In Encountering John: The Gospel in Historical, Literary, and Theological Perspective, Andreas Köstenberger identifies seven signs that Jesus is the Messiah.  “The amazing, escalating signs of Jesus, carefully selected and captivatingly narrated in John’s gospel, prove that God unfailingly pursued rebellious humanity with revelations of his power, mercy, and truth (Köstenberger 2013, 82).”  These signs occur in the beginning of John’s gospel or at least in the first part (Köstenberger 2013, 58).  Each sign points to Jesus as the Messiah.

The First Sign: Water into wine (Joh 2:1–11)

This sign I have already written about on another post.  Take a look at “The Anticipation of a Wedding.”  This miracle is about the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant.  The sign’s significance comes from the superiority of the wine created by Jesus over the previous wine.

The Second Sign: The Clearing of the Temple (Joh 2:13-22)

 The significance of this sign has been difficult for me to discern.  The Jerusalem temple was a symbol of Jewish national and religious identity. The original temple, built by Solomon, had been destroyed by the Babylonians. But Zerubbabel had rebuilt the temple, and this Second Temple building had been completed forty-six years before Jesus’s first Jerusalem Passover (Köstenberger 2013, 60).”  However, by the time of Jesus arrival the Temple had degenerated into a place of profiteering and superficial ritual (Köstenberger 2013, 60).  At stake is God’s personal association with the Temple.  What the world sees in and at the Temple will reflect on their understanding of who He is.

But I think there is more to it than that.  D.A. Carson notes that for the distant traveler the convenience of exchanging one’s own currency for the currency of the Temple so that you could then purchase the sacrifice needed was an immense convenience (Carson 1991, 178).  There could be two issues then.  First, was that of a fair exchange rate.  If the Jewish authorities were taking advantage and giving an unfair exchange rate than they would be robbers indeed.  This would make God look like a predatory lender.  Second, and most interesting to me is the location of the livestock that was being sold.  “At one time the animal merchants set up their stalls across the Kidron Valley on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, but at this point they were in the temple courts, doubtless in the Court of the Gentiles (the outermost court) (Carson 1991, 178).”

Jesus’ complaint then was that the convenience of these animals and merchants should have been located elsewhere (Carson 1991, 178).  Using the Court of the Gentiles in this fashion means that the Gentiles would have no access to the Temple.  To those Gentiles God would appear to be only the God of the Jews.  For me, the clearing of the Temple is a sign that the Messiah would not only serve the Jews but would serve the whole world.

The Third Sign: Healing the nobleman’s son (Joh 4:46–54)

This sign occurs in Canna just as the changing of the water to wine.  “As at the wedding in Cana, Jesus rises to meet the need of the hour, in this case the well-being of the royal official’s son (Köstenberger 2013, 75).”  Jesus’ response to the nobleman’s request to heal his son is, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe (Joh 4:48).”  This was addressed to the Galilean Jews in general because according to Adam Clarke, “they had neither a love of the truth, nor simplicity of heart; and would not believe anything from heaven, unless forced… by the most striking miracles (Clarke 1810-1826, 545).”  Strikingly similar to many people of today.  “They deny that God can have any influence among men’ and as to the operations of the Holy Spirit, they, in the genuine Galilean spirit, boldly assert that they will not credit any man who professes to be made a partaker of them, unless he work a miracle in proof of his pretensions (Clarke 1810-1826, 545)!”

Edwin Blum summarizes nicely, “The lesson of this incident is that Jesus’ power is able to save from death even at a great distance. His Word has power to work; people are simply to believe His Word (Walvoord and Zuck 2004, 288).”

The Fourth Sign: Healing the lame man (Joh 5:1–18)

This sign occurs when Jesus heals a lame man.  The man had been trying to get into a pool that was supposed to have healing powers but was prevented from entering by his condition and that no one would help him.  The key to understanding this sign is that it occurred on the Sabbath.  The other three Synoptic Gospels explain that the ‘Son of Man’ is Lord of the Sabbath.

‘Son of Man’ is a reference to Daniel 7.  “One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed (Scott 1995, 311-312).”  ‘Son of Man’ was a messianic term and by demonstrating Jesus’ lordship over the Sabbath he was claiming to be the expected messiah.

His messianic claim is further reinforced by His claim to be equal with God.  “My Father is working until now, and I am working (Joh 5:17).”

The Fifth Sign: Feeding the multitude (Joh 6:1–15)

This sign is connected to both Elijah (2Ki 4:42–44) and Moses (Joh 6:31-32).  After the people witnessed this sign they declared, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world (Joh 6:14)!”  They recognized Jesus to be the Prophet promised to Moses in Deuteronomy (Deu 18:15-19).  “Certainly some first-century Jews interpreted that passage messianically, though admittedly there was diversity of opinion (Carson 1991, 171).

D.A. Carson notes that this miracle is not about the eucharist but rather about provision (Carson 1991, 271).  God’s provision is always enough that there is always left over.  Additionally, the number twelve is significant.  “From the time of Hilary of Poitiers (fourth century AD), it has been common to argue that the feeding of the five thousand represents the Lord’s provision for the Jews, and the feeding of the four thousand, with seven baskets left over, represents the Lord’s provision for the Gentiles (Carson 1991, 172).”

The Sixth Sign: Sight to the man born blind (Joh 9:1–41)

 This sign is messianic in its connection to the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah (Isaiah 29:18, 35:4-6, 42:7, 61:1-2) (Köstenberger 2013, 103).  The Gospels of Matthew and Luke make this connection explicit.

The Seventh Sign: Raising of Lazarus (Joh 11:1–57)

This is the coup de grâce and I have written more about it in “That you might believe…”  Here, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.  But not before waiting until he was all the way dead (Joh 11:6).  “The significance of the raising of Lazarus in John’s narrative cannot be exaggerated. Most importantly, the event is the climactic, seventh sign selected by the evangelist to document Jesus’s identity as “the resurrection and the life” (Joh 11:25) (Köstenberger 2013, 114).”

All seven of these signs were selected by John, the author of the Gospel of John, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (Joh 20:31).”  I don’t know where you are today but if you are doubting know that for centuries the words of John in John’s Gospel have been used to bolster faith towards perseverance.  “Clearly, Christianity as a religion is based on the conviction that the resurrection of Jesus (and similarly, miracles such as the raising of Lazarus) is historical fact (Köstenberger 2013, 116).”  Take heart, take courage, and know that He is Lord.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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Carson, D. A. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press, 1991.

Clarke, Adam. Adam Clarke’s Commentary On The Bible. Public Domain, 1810-1826.

Köstenberger, Andreas J. Encountering John: The Gospel in Historical, Leterary, and Theological Perspective. Edited by Walter A. Elwell. Grand rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.

Scott, J. Julius. Jewish Backgrounds Of The New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1995.

Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Dallas: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004.

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