There are many scholars who disagree on this subject, and the Bible doesn't specifically say one way or the other. We do know that humans are special compared to animals, for humans are created in God's image and given the "breath of life" directly from God.
| Gen 1:26-27 | 26 | Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." |
| 27 | God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. |
| Gen 2:7 | Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. |
Therefore, since man is created in the image of God (who is spirit), man has a spiritual nature, which is eternal. However, the Bible doesn't indicate that animals have a spiritual nature, which goes to heaven when they die.
On the other hand, we know that there are animals in the heavenly realm. For instance
| Rev 19:11 | And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. |
And Isaiah mentions animals when talking about Jesus' reign on Earth:
| Isaiah 11:6-8 | 6 | And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. |
| 7 | Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. | |
| 8 | The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. |
| Isaiah 65:25 | "The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent's food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain," says the Lord. |
I personally have had many pets in my life, and two of them were very special to me. One was an Aussie dog named "Iceman" and the other was a pet rat named "Super-Rat". I loved these animals and they loved me. And even though I know there will be animals in heaven, I sometimes wonder if I will ever see my pets again. And to be honest, I don't know.
However, there are things that I do know. And one thing I know is God loves animals. For instance, because of God's care for animals, He command Noah to take two of every animal on the ark to save them from the flood. And Noah did not have to chase down all of these animals; God brought them:
| Gen 7:8-9 | 8 | Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground, |
| 9 | there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. |
Matthew Henry said, "The same hand that at first brought them (the animals) to Adam to be named now brought them to Noah to be preserved."
Also God had laws to protect animals and make sure they were treated right:
And God knows every animal and is aware when they die.
| Matt 10:29 | "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father." |
I may not know if animals go to heaven, but I find peace knowing that God loves all animals very much. And since I know God and His ways, I can then trust God with my pets. And I am confident that, when I go to heaven, I will be pleased with His design and plan and purpose for animals.
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| Copyright © 1999 Ron Hale | |||||