Musings: 07/23/09, Will there be dogs in heaven? by John.

Have you heard people debating about whether or not there will be dogs in heaven? I have, but I've not heard any debate where the destination of cats, or any of the other animals or birds were the subject. I've debated about dogs going to heaven with myself. I guess I've done that because I love dogs, particularly one right now named Runt. It's caused me to consider the Biblical aspects of their future.

Why did God put animals on the earth to start with? Why do they have similar bone structure, blood, etc. to ours? We don't know the answers to that because the Bible really never tells us explicitly. Genesis 9:3,4 says, "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it." That includes all animals, but it doesn't specifically say that animals were put here for us any more than it says we were put here for them.

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." The word used for world is the word from which we get cosmopolitan. It's kosmos. It refers to all creation. This verse can be interpreted in a much wider sense, i.e. that God sent Jesus to save everything He created! People are our prime concern. I believe all people are also God's prime concern because He loves us. We are inextricably meshed with the rest of God's creation. Romans 8:20-22 says, "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." Our fall into sin apparently affected everything in God's creation, but when Jesus comes the second time, all will be put right. It seems to me the new heavens and the new earth may be just like this one is now except for all the sinfulness. Most people think they would be happy with that.

Realizing that to be true, would it be a stretch of faith to believe that all this creation, God said everything He made is good, will be with us in perfected form? If so, dogs, cats, and all other creatures will be with us, and they will be perfected like we are. Isaiah 11:6-9 is a prophecy about the relationship of animals and people to each other. The concluding words in verse 9 are directed at their perfection, "They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Perhaps the knowledge we have will all be carried into heaven with us when we die. Then we will have eternity to learn everything spiritual, and I'm sure we will be casting out a lot of false doctrine we have picked up in our lifetimes.

I am a happy person, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it takes to make me happy. I don't know what it will take for us to be happy in heaven either, do you? I do know we will be changed, and the things that appeal to us now may not appeal to us then. The Scripture says we will be like Jesus because we will see Him as He is. (I John 3:2). My study tells me Jesus loves and respects the life of everything while He was on earth. If we are like Him in heaven, then perhaps we will still need animals around us for us to love along with all the people we will love, too. Maybe my present dog, Runt, and Sam long dead, and even my first hunting companion, Shewee, will be right there alongside me in heaven. I'm sure they will be there if I need them because God will take care of all our needs. Revelation tells us there will be no tears from then on, and sorrows will be a thing of the past when we are in the glorious presence of our Living Lord Jesus!