When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
Luke 7:20
John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the one they were looking for. John, of course, had prophesied that the one that came after him would baptize the people with fire, meaning the Holy Ghost. Jesus’ response was simply to indicate the miracles, and to exhort those to not become offended.
It was only in His death that Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit (John 16:7). It was only in the mourning of His loss that the Father could send the Comforter (Matthew 5:4).
The same could be said of His Kingdom.
Jesus clearly declared that the time was fulfilled and that the Kingdom was here (Mark 1:15). To have meant anything other than the Kingdom obviously would have been deception, and so by this Jesus, the author of all prophecy, is stating with absolute authority that this is the Kingdom of God.
But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Matthew 12:28
Jesus said His deliverances were definitive proof of the Kingdom. Although people of cessationist origin may not agree that deliverances continue today, all interpretations Pentecostal and Charismatic thought all agree that the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us today, and the gifts and powers and abilities demonstrated by Jesus in His Earthly ministry are for us today, as best summarized by Paul in places such as 1 Corinthians 12-14.
Barring the cessationist argument, deliverances continue today, and have been a part of the church for the past 2000 years, or at least in its potential. The basis of authority for the dispossession of evil spirits by those who formerly possessed them is on the authority of the Kingdom of God. Without the Kingdom, there would be no authority to drive out demons.
That said, we must consider the aspects of this. First, foremost, it was the Kingdom authority, the finger of God, the Spirit of God, casting out demons. Second, without the Kingdom, there would be no deliverances. Third, so long as there are true deliverances, it is always, past, present, or future, on the basis of the authority of the Kingdom, and upon none other. Fourth, so long as there is a single deliverance, the Kingdom of God has come upon us today.
We could ask a similar question to what the disciples of John asked. Is this the Kingdom that was to come, or should we look for another? The same answer suffices. Look at the miracles. Blessed is he who is not offended.
Jesus, in His Earthly ministry, never promised a physical, earthly Kingdom. Acts 1:7 is merely asking when the Kingdom will be restored to the Nation (see here for a discussion of this text). The twelve had it, but the nation as a whole did not. The time for the nation to receive the Kingdom, as opposed to the twelve, was not for them to know.
Even the request of James and John to sit one at His right and one at His left does not denote the necessity of a physical wooden chair, any more than Christ seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven does, who calls the entire earth His footstool.
One of the greatest tragedies of Christian understanding has been the relegation of the Kingdom to one of two extremes. On the one side, certain theologians surmise that while the Kingdom is “Now and Not Yet”, they place the majority of their emphasis on the “not yet”. Certainly, we have not all received the full adoption as sons (only the Spirit of Adoption, by which we cry “Abba! Father!”), the redemption of our bodies. Obviously, more lies ahead. But, if we deny the Kingdom in our midst, in which Jesus said that anything we ask for in prayer, believing, we shall receive, we deny the very words of the One we are following.
But, on the other side, Christ Himself did not do whatsoever He willed with His own authority, but rather, “Not my own will, but thine be done”. Jesus saved the entire world, not by evangelizing every country, but by being obedient to the Father’s call in His own, and the Father, because of His obedience, raised Him up to all dominion and authority, beyond every name that can be given in this life and the next.
To either deny the Kingdom today, or to separate the very real authority and power granted by the Kingdom present, which still works mighty signs, wonders, and deliverances, from the obedience of the Father, are both tragedies of the Faith.
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Matthew 7:21-23
Jesus said an evil generation looks after a sign (Matthew 12:39). He gave many, but when they asked, He refused. Despite the opinions of others about how one ought to use their gifts (John 7:4), nor their taunts and jabs about apparent failure (Matthew 27:42), nor any other voice (John 10:27), the servant of the Kingdom is led only by the Father (Matthew 7:21, above).
What is the will of the Father? That we bear much fruit, showing that we are His disciples. Jesus didn’t walk in just any Kingdom, but The Kingdom. He didn’t walk in a portion of the Kingdom, but had the Spirit without measure (John 3:34), and did all things well (Mark 7:37).
Any eschatology that delimits the age of the Kingdom to a future time is, in theology anyway, in denial of the message of Jesus. Matthew 21:28-32 tells of two sons, one who said yes and yet refused to work, and the other who said no and did it anyway. There certainly are those who say “no no no” to the things of the Kingdom, yet they do them, and there are those who say all the right words and simply don’t. It is really the one that does them that is obedient, but how much better to both say “yes” and actually follow through!
This is the only Kingdom that God’s got, and any time that you partake of His righteousness, His Peace, or the Joy in the Holy Spirit, you are partaking, not of a part or a foreshadowing of the Kingdom, although there is more and better yet to come, but the Kingdom, the real thing, right here, right now, in our midst, within us, for today.
Anything else is wrong.