Les Feldick Bible Study

Will we be surprised in heaven by who is saved and who is not?

No, we will not actually be surprised in glory by who is saved and who is not. The teaching says that if such knowledge existed, people would be surprised and disappointed to find some present they did not expect and some absent they expected. But believers will not have that knowledge; only God can look on the heart and know.

Les explains that in this age of grace the only valid baptism is the one human hands cannot touch and a lost person cannot share, unlike water baptism, where we can never be sure of a person's salvation. He notes that even groups of pastors or ecclesiastics cannot truly determine salvation; they may hear a testimony and draw human conclusions, but they cannot look on the heart. Only God can do that. Les tells his class he does not think the hypothetical will actually happen, but if believers got to glory, they would suddenly realize many people were there they did not think would be, and many were not there they thought should be. He says it will not be that way because we will not have that kind of knowledge; if it were, we would be both surprised and disappointed. This is why Scripture says, "judge not," since only God knows whether a person is a child of God.