John the Baptist, and then Jesus, came preaching the Kingdom of God/Heaven is "at hand." Kingdom reality was upon the people of Israel and about to manifest itself. When Jesus began to do miracles by the Spirit of God in which he was anointed, he explained that this was the manifestation of the Kingdom of God. But there is more to the story. In the context of this Good News, John warned the Pharisees about the coming wrath of God and said, "the axe is already at the root of the tree." With God's Kingdom comes His fiery judgment and this is why we also read that Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit and in Fire. Judgment begins with the household of God and if we are in Christ we are a part of that household. When John said "the axe is at the root of the tree" this was just another way of saying the Kingdom is "at hand" or "near." This judgment wrath was totally manifested in the person of the King of the Jewish nation suffering on the cross and this judgment upon the flesh of the King of Israel was further manifested 40 years later when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. God's judgment wrath had been manifested to the people of Israel.
Jesus was the Father's Word and contained in the Father's Word is His Will. His Word which went out from Him at the foundation of the world returns to Him having accomplished what He sent it out of Himself to accomplish (see Isaiah 55:11). When Jesus said the words, "It is finished," all of God the Father's will for this present creation was completed. Jesus himself embodied God's purpose and meaning of this creation. And Jesus risen is also the firstfruits of the new creation, the place where the new creation begins. He was the only begotten Son of the old creation. But he is not the only begotten Son of the new creation. In the new creation, he is the firstborn of many brothers, many children of God who are no longer a part of the old creation but part of the new creation if indeed they are truly in Christ. And so we experientially realize the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven right now by the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The Spirit communicates to us the glory of God and Heaven and His Son.
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are experiencing Kingdom reality, the reality of Heaven, the reality of the very presence of God. We often tend to think about these things in a spatial sense. We are "down here" and the Kingdom of Heaven is "up there." We are no longer of this world but of the Kingdom. But reality is more than just a spatial thing. When we are in Christ, we experience the reality of the coming age and that age will be a total reality to this earth, and all the people of this earth, when Jesus comes again in blazing glory. For us who are in Christ right now, that future reality is not a future thing; it is a reality for us right now. To be a partaker of the Holy Spirit means we are experiencing the reality of the age to come right here, right now (see Heb 6:4). This is also the "oikoumene" mentioned at Hebrews 1:6 which Jesus entered when he rose from the dead. When we are in Christ, we have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the community of God and all His angels, the economy of Kingdom reality that is the age to come (see Heb 2:5). From our own perspective we are not just experiencing the reality that is spatially "up there" but the reality that is "down there" at the end of this age and the beginning of the coming age. When Jesus comes again in glory, this dark world will experience Kingdom reality and it will experience the judgment wrath of God. For us who are in Christ, we experience this coming reality right now, we experience the "powers of the age to come." For that reason, judgment begins with the household of God (1 Peter 4:18). For this reason, the true disciples of Jesus will most certainly endure fiery trials right here, right now. They are baptized in the Holy Spirit and in Fire.
