One of the statements Jesus made about his return is that it would be as obvious as lightning across the sky. We do not need to go looking for signs, they will be provided. Jesus may have been alluding to incidents in his life such as this.
15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
18So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. 19But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, 20added to them all by shutting up John in prison.
21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Now, that is obvious. It is in the other two synoptic gospels. It happened in public. It was no private, mystical moment. And there was no subtlety about it. The Jews knew their prophets and they knew the Messiah was due.
And when Jesus came, it was made obvious firstly to those who were seeking God by being where the final and greatest OT prophet was — John the Baptizer. (Now, the fact that Jesus did not do what they thought the Messiah would do but instead the will of his father is their problem. Our model of God is always too small. Our theology is always too feeble).
We are not going to find the next messiah in obscure cow fields or by the mystics declaring themselves his prophet or by deep and mystical meditation. . We can therefore safely ignore the Mayan Calendar and much of the conspiracy theories that abound (I use Hanlon’s or Heinlen’s Razor — never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence).
In fact, it is not our job to look for the Messiah. It is our job to stand faithful, for he will return