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The much-awaited Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will soon become a reality. Many people know this. But, the issue is, how many people are ready for him? A lot of people seem not bothered about the fact of Jesus� return. This is because, for a long time since Jesus made the promise about his return to his disciples, nothing has happened. In the year 30 AD, the year of Jesus� ascension to Heaven, angels of God re-echoed on Mt. Olivet words he had earlier-on spoken to his disciples, about his sure-return to earth. The year 2030 AD will therefore be the two-thousandth year, since this promise. Obviously, it has been a long time since; long enough for many people to have turned themselves into scoffers, who teasingly suggest that he is unable to return. However, this sure-to-come event of Kingdom Calendar now seems imminent. This is why there are, today, many rumours and predictions about the Master�s return. These are signs, among others, pointing to the fact that, because of the integrity of the one � Jesus Christ the Nazarene � who made the promise to return, the fulfillment of his words can no longer delay. Of course, nobody knows when the return of the Master will take place. The Master has however, warned his disciples that it will come like a thief. He has cautioned all his disciples that, if the master of the house knew when armed robbers would break into his home, to take away his goods, he would not have been sleeping. It seems to me that, everything about this coming event is characterized by surprise: season, day, hour and a never seen cataclysm of its kind in the earth. At a time when people will seem to be enjoying peace, then, this surprise will come on them. The elected few Not only in these things will the Second Coming, of the Lord Jesus Christ, be a surprise to the inhabitants of the earth. The composition of the group of the elect few, qualified to enter Heaven will also shock many. We are told in the Word of God, that all creation awaits the revelation of this select group, who will be declared eligible to enter Heaven. (Romans 8: 19). There are people, who many others do not expect to see in Heaven, but who will surprise the many, when they find their way there. At the same time, a select few (of so-called archbishops?), expected by many to be in Heaven, will fail to enter it. It could be that, some rank-free disciples of the Master will find their way into Heaven, while, some high-rank so-called archbishops (and self-styled reverends?) will be denied entry. According to the Master, people will come from the east and west, and feast with Abraham in Heaven, whilst many Israelites born out of his loins, are cast out into darkness. (Matthew 8: 11-12). Jesus has also said many � of Tyre, Sidon, Nineveh and the south (Ethiopia of Africa) � will gain places in Heaven, while many Israelites of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, are denied entry. (cf. Matthew 11: 21-24; 12: 41-42; & Luke 11: 31). The greatest surprise of entrees into Heaven to many people will however be, king Nebuchadnezzar: one-time king of the erstwhile Babylonian Empire and who was a thorn in the flesh of unrepentant-Israel. Nebuchadnezzar ruled with an iron hand for more than forty years, ca. 605-562 BC. Though many people do not know of any single good thing, which he did in his reign, he ended it in a manner worthy of earning him life in Heaven. How could this be, many may ask? And this is the reason why it will surprise many to see him with them in Heaven. Many more others, may seek to find issues with God, for being cast out of Heaven, while this one-time wicked king, is made to enter. How is Nebuchadnezzar able to achieve God�s blessing in this? The answer is simple: God�s Word in Ezekiel 36: 25-27, became real to Nebuchadnezzar, at the tail-end of his life. Read these verses of Ezekiel to understand how. You see, when it pleased God to lead Nebuchadnezzar into His salvation, He turned him into a beast. (Daniel 4: 1-37). For many people, this was God�s judgment upon him for his wickedness; and they rejoiced in it. But that was God�s disguised blessing to him. God wanted to wash Nebuchadnezzar in the dew of Heaven but could never get him into the open, out of his palace, to do so. And so He turned him into a human-beast; drove him into the fields and commanded angels to guard him, so nobody would hunt him down as game. And all this, God did for a period of seven years, during which He caused the dew of heaven to do a thorough work, in taking out his heart of stone and transplanting in him, a heart of flesh. With his new heart, Nebuchadnezzar worshipped God. Because God washed Nebuchadnezzar in the dew of heaven (waters of baptism?), he was able to meet Jesus� condition for anyone�s entry into Heaven, stated in John 3: 3-5. Do you see the love of God for Nebuchadnezzar and how in this love, God caused all things to work together for his good? Nebuchadnezzar will therefore surprise many to be found in Heaven. Disobedient messengers of God Nebuchadnezzar will not be the only surprise in Heaven. Remember the sailors who were with Jonah, the disobedient messenger of God, who was sent to the people of Nineveh? Well, they had their idol-polluted hearts purified in the rain-waters of the storm, which hit them, while they were on the deck of their ship, casting its cargo into the sea. In that thorough drenching by the rain-waters, they had their stony hearts replaced with those of flesh, thus enabling them fear God, offer sacrifices and make vows to worship Him. (Jonah 1:4-16). They will therefore surprise many to be found in Heaven. Naaman, the leprous-Syrian army general, will also surprise many to be found in Heaven. You see, Naaman, was not only cleansed of his leprosy in the seven dips he made into the waters of the Jordan, but in the process, he had God take out his heart of stone and transplant in him, a heart of flesh. When God was through with Naaman in His transforming process, Naaman not only worshipped God with a heart of flesh, but he was ready to take a load of the earth of Israel, to build a temple unto Jehovah in Syria. (Second Kings 5: 1-19). The Old Testament has accounts of how God (Personally) baptized people to make them eligible to enter Heaven when they had no idea what blessings He was bestowing on them. The list of such blessed people is very short � Noah in the ark (First Peter 3: 20-21); Abraham in the waters of the Euphrates river (Joshua 24: 2-3); infant-Moses in the Nile waters (Exodus 2: 1-10); Israel in the Red sea crossing (First Corinthians 10: 1-2) and the generation of Israelites who crossed the waters of the Jordan (Joshua 4: 1-9). Later on, God sent Jesus to make real these and many other shadows of baptism, inclusive of those of Nebuchadnezzar, Naaman and Jonah�s ship mates, in his baptism at the hand of John the Baptist. In today�s Grace Dispensation, the only way to enter the blessings of Jesus� sacrifice is through baptism into his name � Mark 16: 15-16, Acts 2: 38-39, Romans 6: 3-6, Galatians 3: 27, etc. Today, faith in these verses, will, enable the salvation-seeker have Ezekiel 36: 25-27 become real in his life, and therefore make him become eligible to enter Heaven. And yet I read of an archbishop, who did not subscribe to these truths for his Born Again experience. For this archbishop, he instantly became Born Again when he was led by three women, while on his hospital bed, to pray a special prayer. He is confident that, he is in God�s salvation, because he recited the so-called �Sinners� Prayer� or �Prayer for Salvation� after these women. To this archbishop, he got Born Again by that prayer and then later got baptized. These verses listed above do not mean much to this archbishop. To him, and many archbishops of like-faith with him, baptism comes after salvation: a position which contradicts God�s Word. Will such high-rank so-called clergy-men cause surprises in not being found in Heaven? Only time will tell. The Master wants wheat and tares left to grow side-by-side, until the harvest time, when they are then distinguishable. Indeed, the surprises in Heaven will be many. We must be prepared for them. Shalom.