Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple.

"When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?"But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken."
(John 2:13-22 NIV)

The cleansing of the Temple was passionate. Jesus was passionate about the worship of God. And that was what the Temple was for.

"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild" is nowhere more inaccurate and unhistorical than here.
from The Bible Speaks Today

The money changers had to exchange Roman coin for Shekels so pilgrims could purchase animals for sacrifice. The Law demanded 'holy' coinage for this, purity of the shekel's silver, not the Roman coin. But the Chief priests had allowed this to become a means of making money. The Temple had become a commercial venture.

This Psalm describes Jesus' anguish over this desecration of the Temple as well as other things during his ministry:
Psa. 69:9 For zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches and insults of those who reproach and insult You have fallen upon me.

The next section, verses 18 through 21 is a puzzle to me. The Jews demand a sign to prove that Jesus really is from God. Why didn't they just push him out of the Temple or have him arrested then? Why demand a sign? Perhaps they had an inkling that he was who he said he was. After all, they were expecting him!

But they did. And it wasn't the last time they demanded a sign from Jesus.

Jesus' answer this time: "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it in three days."

The Jews thought he was speaking of Herod's great Temple that Herod was still building and had been building for 46 years. It was great! Some of the stones were 400 tons! Imagine! That's 800,000 pounds for just one stone!!!! I saw some of these stones. Herod was an amazing builder! It would be so hard to imagine these stones pulled down and this Temple destroyed when it was still being built and was so well built! And it was!
These stones were awesome! And the Temple was amazing. Huge. It covered acres!

These walls were not the Temple but the wall around Jerusalem. Workers have dug down to the stones that were the actual street in the city That's where we were standing.

But the author of Matthew said Jesus really meant the temple of his body which he would raise up in 3 days. And that was much more amazing and awesome!

So, Jesus already had the end of his ministry in view. He already knew.

John's Gospel shows us Jesus' voluntary progress toward his predetermined goal. He definitely knew...

The disciples didn't understand this. But after Jesus' resurrection they got it. And they remembered what he had said about raising the temple in 3 days. They got it then.

I think this incident described by John shows both, Jesus' personal authority and the crisis that his mission represented for Judaism.

I think too, Jesus was looking forward to the time when worship would exclude the Temple and the victims of the temple, the animals that were sacrificed. He drove them out! And he said the Temple would be destroyed! And that it would be raised in 3 days, THE TEMPLE! Both would be destroyed but only one Temple would remain...

Do you see it? This was also a very symbolic incident that presaged what would come.

Mal. 3:1 "Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming," says the LORD Almighty.

Mal. 3:2 But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal or like a strong soap that whitens clothes.