The question has not changed. It echoes from the Mount of Olives into every generation. When will Christ return?And how will we know?Jesus answered both, but maybe not in the way many expect. He redirected attention from speculation to mission.

In Matthew 24 Christ presents a sequence of signs. Wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes. “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. . .. But the end is not yet” (verse 6). These realities intensify and disturb, yet they do not determine the end. “All these are the beginning of sorrows” (verse 8). They describe a world without God, not the timing of God.

That distinction is decisive. Instead of being heaven’s initiative, these signs are the result of humanity’s distance from its Creator. Conflicts multiply, suffering expands, and disorder increases, yet the message of Jesus is unmistakable. The enemy may shake the world, but one thing he does not do is set the clock. Satan can’t determine the end of time, but God and mission do. Destruction won’t mark the final chapter of history. History will close when Christ’s purpose is fulfilled.

The enemy may shake the world, but one thing he does not do is set the clock.

Then comes the decisive statement: “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). Not war, not crisis, not collapse. The final signal is proclamation!

This changes everything. It answers the how, when, and who. Who will carry that witness? All Christians are called to lift up Christ. The proclamation of His soon return, however, has been placed at the center of the Advent movement. Our pioneers were shaped by Scripture, tested by disappointment, and sent back with renewed clarity. The remnant church was called to prepare the world. Speculating about the latest headlines is not the focus. Scripture describes these people as those who “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17), and as being entrusted with the everlasting gospel for “every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Rev. 14:6).

Rather than being a message of fear, it is a message of urgency and grace. Heaven does not delay, but waits in mercy. As Ellen G. White wrote: “To prepare a people to stand in the day of God” was the purpose entrusted to God’s people. So where should our eyes be now? On rumors? On predictions? On headlines? Or on the unfinished map of mission and the millions still waiting to hear?

How? When? And who?

The answer is clear. The mission defines the moment. The message defines the movement. And the church defines the witness.

If this is the final sign . . . who will proclaim it?

Article by Elder Erton C. Köhler,  President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, first published in Adventist Review