18 the Jews then answered and said to him, 'What sign dost thou shew to us—that thou dost these things?' 19 Jesus answered and said to them, 'Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.' 20 The Jews, therefore, said, 'Forty and six years was this sanctuary building, and wilt thou in three days raise it up?' 21 but he spake concerning the sanctuary of his body; 22 when, then, he was raised out of the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this to them, and they believed the Writing, and the word that Jesus said.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on John 2:18-22
Commentary on John 2:12-22
(Read John 2:12-22)
The first public work in which we find Christ engaged, was driving from the temple the traders whom the covetous priests and rulers encouraged to make a market-place of its courts. Those now make God's house a house of merchandise, whose minds are filled with cares about worldly business when attending religious exercises, or who perform Divine offices for love of gain. Christ, having thus cleansed the temple, gave a sign to those who demanded it, to prove his authority for so doing. He foretells his death by the Jews' malice, Destroy ye this temple; I will permit you to destroy it. He foretells his resurrection by his own power; In three days I will raise it up. Christ took again his own life. Men mistake by understanding that according to the letter, which the Scripture speaks by way of figure. When Jesus was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered he has said this. It helps much in understanding the Divine word, to observe the fulfilling of the Scriptures.