In the present tense, it makes John’s statement an ongoing event, one which had been fulfilled at the cross and continued at Pentecost. But was John speaking only of the supernatural work of Christ whenever the gospel was told and of the Holy Spirit’s conviction of those who heard it by God’s divine power? Or was John indicating there would also be a future fulfillment, one more substantial and concrete? A physical return of Christ, coming on the Pillar of Cloud, God’s glorious Shekinah?
