Pets In Paradise?

What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” —the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV - see also Isaiah 64:4)

The Bible clearly proclaims that the Triune God is love, good, and kind, and His faithfulness and mercies are new every morning (Psalm 145:8-9; Lamentations 3:22-23; 1 John 4:16). He cares deeply about all of creation and every living thing. He is beyond all human comprehension and understanding. His thoughts, perspectives, plans, purposes, and ways are not our ways, but are exponentially different (Isaiah 55:8-9). He desires that human beings walk in humility, trust, and reliance on His guidance and wisdom, regardless of the circumstances.

God created the heavens and the Earth, as well as all the animals and every other living thing on the Earth, but they were not given an eternal spirit. Then He created human beings, both male and female, to live forever with Him with an eternal spirit in His image and likeness with intellect, emotions, the ability to choose between right and wrong, to reason, create, innovate, and express themselves, along with the capacity to think, understand and establish a unique and loving relationship with Him and reflect His nature so that they could represent Him (Genesis 1:26-27). Humans possess qualities that reflect God's character and nature, enabling them to discern right from wrong and form meaningful connections with others. God also gave humans dominion over the Earth and responsibility to care for it and all living creatures.

Unfortunately, the first humans intentionally chose not to trust God. They sinned against Him, bringing a curse upon all of Creation and causing every living thing to suffer and ultimately die from sickness and disease because sin permeated the DNA of every living thing (Galatians 3:13).

It was by the sacrifice of Jesus, God, the Son, freely shedding His blood on the Cross that every human being on the planet can now go to Him and have eternal life spent with Him.

SO, WHAT ABOUT OUR PETS?

Throughout my life, I have had insects, rodents, reptiles, rabbits, fish, birds, horses, sheep, dogs, cats, and if I could, I would have had many other kinds of animals as Pets. I enjoyed them all and became emotionally attached to many of them, and heartbroken when they were gone.

The Bible does not explicitly rule out the possibility that there are currently animals in Heaven, as horses are mentioned being there, and if horses are present, other animals could also be there (Isaiah 65:17, 25; 2 Kings 2:11; Revelation 6:2-8; 19:11-14). However, many believe these verses are symbolic of power, divine judgment, and armies, and are not to be taken literally.

All the animals, cattle, small creatures, and flying birds praise God and He wants His people to care for their needs (Psalm 148:10; Deuteronomy 22:4; Proverbs 12:10). It is biblical truth that God loves animals and has compassion on all He has made and cares about them (Psalm 145:9; Matthew 10:29;12:11). He made animals without an eternal spirit before people, who were given an eternal spirit and then brought them to Adam to name them (Genesis 1:20-26; 2:19).

Sadly, because of sin entering into the world through Adam, God demanded a sacrificial system of animals to temporarily atone for their sins (Exodus 10:26). Yet, God cares enough about animals that He made provision on the Ark to preserve them so they could propagate and repopulate the Earth (Genesis 7:2–3). Jesus ended the need for animal sacrifice on the Cross when He became the final sacrifice.

Because of Adam’s sin, the entire creation and everything in it fell into a state of decay and ruin. When Jesus returns, it will turn into a state of emancipation and liberty from sin.

The “whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23-25 NIV). Spending eternity with Jesus, love Himself, that Christians have this hope, but “hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:22-25 NIV).

As a result of Jesus’ sacrificial death and the coming triumphant return to Earth with His Bride at the beginning of His Millennial reign, all of Creation, including animals, will be “liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21-22 NIV).

The Bible describes the Millennial Reign of Jesus after the Tribulation as a time of peace and harmony with all created things, using analogies and symbolism such as “the wolf would live with the lamb. The leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf, lion, and yearling will be together, being led by a little child, and the cow will feed with the bear, their young lying down together with the lion eating straw like an ox. An infant will play near a cobra’s den, and a young child will put its hand in a viper’s nest without any harm or destruction.” (Isaiah 11:6-9 NIV)