I thought some of you might like to read this...sorry, it is long. Randy
Alcorn has written a book, titled Heaven, which is a study of what the Bible
tells us to expect. It will be released next month.
Left Behind: Heaven - Question 6 My kids really miss their dog and long
to see him again. Any chance Ranger might be in Heaven? answer by Randy
Alcorn
I'm asked this question a lot, so I'm going to take the time to develop
what I believe is a biblical answer, but which many will find very
surprising.
Elijah was taken up to Heaven in a chariot pulled by horses (2 Kings
2:11). There are horses in Heaven (Revelation 6:2-8). In fact, there are
enough horses for the vast armies of Heaven to ride to earth (Revelation
19:11). There are also invisible horses in angelic armies currently
dispatched to earth (2 Kings 6:17). It appears the spiritual realm has
physical shapes and properties, though normally we can't see them.
Other animals aren't mentioned in the Revelation passages, presumably
because they don't play a role in Christ's second coming (an army bringing
deliverance rides horses, not Dalmatians or hedgehogs). But isn't it likely
that since there are innumerable horses in Heaven there are all kinds of
other animals too? Why wouldn't there be? Why would we expect horses to be
the only animals?
However, regardless what we believe about these animals in the
intermediate heaven, before the resurrection, there is a very clear biblical
answer to whether there will be animals on the New Earth (where we'll live
with Christ and each other forever), after the resurrection.
In Isaiah 65:17 God refers to creating a New Heaven and a New Earth. In
subsequent verses the text seems to move back and forth from the millennial
kingdom to the New Earth. God says he will have animals—wolf, lamb, and lion
among them—in the millennium, the New Earth or both (Isaiah 65:25). Since
the passage begins and ends by talking about the new earth, I believe the
proper understanding is that animals will be there, not just in the
millennium (which is on the old earth).
Since a central aspect of mankind's dominion in Genesis 1-2 involved
naming and governing over animals, and his reign over the earth will be
restored in eternity (Revelation 22:5), it seems clear that animals will be
there for him to govern.
We tend to overlook what Scripture says about animals. Like humans,
animals were formed from the ground. "Now the Lord God had formed out of the
ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air" (Genesis
2:19). When God breathed a spirit into Adam's body, made from the earth,
Adam became nephesh, a "living being" or "soul" (Genesis 2:7). Remarkably,
the same Hebrew word, nephesh, is used for animals and for people. We are
specifically told that not only people, but animals have "the breath of
life" (Genesis 1:30; 2:7; 6:17; 7:15, 22). God hand-made animals, linking
them both to the earth and humanity.
Certainly animals do not have human souls. Animals aren't created in
God's image, and they aren't equal to humans in any sense. Nonetheless,
there's a strong biblical case for animals having non-human souls. I didn't
take this seriously until I studied the usage of the Hebrew and Greek words
nephesh and psyche, often translated "soul" when referring to humans. (Nephesh
is translated psyche in the Septuagint.) The fact that these words are often
used of animals is compelling evidence that they have non-human souls.
That's what most Christians in the past believed.
In their book Beyond Death, Gary Habermas and J.P. Moreland point out,
"It wasn't until the advent of seventeenth-century Enlightenment … that the
existence of animal souls was even questioned in Western civilization.
Throughout the history of the church, the classic understanding of living
things has included the doctrine that animals, as well as humans, have
souls" (p. 293).
I cannot emphasize strongly enough, however, that humans and animals are
very different, with people being far more valuable. Humans continue to
exist after death, but that may not be the case for animals. However, to do
justice to Scripture, we need to recognize that people and animals share
something unique: They are living beings. Because God has a future plan for
both mankind and Earth, it strongly suggests that he has a future plan for
animals as well.
Romans 8:18-22 says that the whole creation was subject to suffering and
futility because of human sin. The creation groans in longing for the
liberation that will come to humans, and thereby to all creation itself.
Creation is under man's dominion and will share the rewards of his
redemption just as it shared the punishment for his sin. In Roman's 8 the
creation that suffers is the same creation that is redeemed. Since animals
now suffer and cry out for relief, doesn't it make sense that some of the
same animals who now suffer will be part of the New Earth that is relieved
of suffering?
Animals are a central part of creation, next to man himself the most
significant part. After all, besides his wife, Adam was called upon to give
names only to one other part of the creation—the animals (Genesis 2:19-20).
He worked the garden, but he wasn't invited to name the vegetation. Clearly,
the animals had certain qualities that set them above other creation. They
were to be special to man, and his naming them makes his connection with
them personal.
One of the most revealing Old Testament pictures of God's redemptive work
is the Flood and Noah's ark. When God saved people from the destruction of
the Flood, he also took great care to save the animals, the people's
companions and helpers. God commanded Noah, "You are to bring into the ark
two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.
Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, and of every kind of
creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive"
(Genesis 6:19-20).
After the Flood, God made a covenant with Noah, and in that new covenant
God included animals. Notice the repeated emphasis on animals:
God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now establish my covenant
with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature
that was with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals, all
those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. …
Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, "This
is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living
creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. … I will remember
my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. …
Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the
everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on
the earth." So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have
established between me and all life on the earth" (Genesis 9:9-17).
God's plan for a renewed Earth after the Flood emphatically involved
animals. Wouldn't we expect his plan for a renewed Earth after the future
judgment to likewise include animals? If the rescue of mankind in the ark is
a picture of redemption, doesn't the rescue of the animals in the ark also
anticipate their restoration as part of God's redemptive purposes?
In 2 Peter 3:5-7, we see a direct parallel between God's past judgment of
the earth with water and his future judgment with fire. Mankind was judged
in the Flood, and on his coattails most animals also perished. Eight human
beings were rescued from the Flood to inhabit the new post-Flood Earth, but
God didn't limit his rescue to people. He rescued representatives of every
animal species to also occupy this new Earth. This is a powerful picture of
what Romans 8 states—mankind and animals and all creation are linked
together not only in curse and judgment but also in blessing and
deliverance. Together they will experience life on a New Earth.
Selected humans, animals, vegetation, and geographical features
(including mountains) were preserved by God in his judgment by water.
Shouldn't we expect the same in his judgment by fire?
If the New Earth is all the best of the old earth and more, then we
should expect it to contain animals. Eden was ruined through sin and will be
restored through Christ's reign of righteousness. All that was part of Eden,
and then made wrong through the sin of the first Adam, we would expect to be
part of the New Earth, made right through the virtue of the Second Adam.
Would God take away from us in Heaven what he gave, for delight and
companionship and help, to Adam and Eve in Eden? Would he revoke his earlier
decision to put animals with man, and under man's care? If he remakes the
New Earth with new men (who look very much like the old men, only perfect,
without violence), wouldn't we expect him also to make new animals (who will
presumably look like the old animals, only perfect, without violence)?
I once read Billy Graham's response to a child's question, "Will my dog
who died this week be in Heaven?" Graham replied, "If it would make you any
happier, then yes, he will be."
God made animals to glorify himself and to have an important role in the
lives of people. God has touched many people's lives through them. It would
be simple for him to recreate a pet, with its specific "personality" in
Heaven. If refashioning specific animals his people have loved, including
their pets, would bring his children greater pleasure than simply the
creation of brand new animals, I have no doubt he will gladly do this, both
for our good and his glory.
Might Ranger be in Heaven, which will be on the New Earth? (Revelation
21:1-4). Why not?!
