Heaven Bound Dogs?

God’s Word has much to say on the lesser creatures. The Old Testament teaches they are created with nepes, a soul, and that it is unknown whether their soul goes up or down after death. (See Genesis 1; Ecclesiastes 3). The prophets also speak of a restoration to the created order:

All Dogs Go To Heaven was released Nov. 17, 1989. Its sequel, All Dogs Go To Heaven 2, came just several years later. These movies, and many like them, came at a time when the cultural pet norms began to blossom. It is quite popular to think that all dogs are innocent, we should worship the ground they walk on, and elevate them to the status of personhood. “My angel” or “My child” is a typical phrase given to our pets. This idea is mostly born out of nurturing/cultivating our intense emotional desires. But, as the Old Prophet once said, “To the Word and to the Testimony!” We shall go. Let us see what a famous new covenant promise says about them:

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together…And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,As the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:6-9)

The animals will be back in an Edenic state of sorts, and to summarize the whole thing, God says that this is part of what it means for the earth to be full of the knowledge of Him. This promise is right alongside another from Isaiah 9. The force behind it is simple: “The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”

The New Testament, however, seems to answer Solomon’s question, and the prophetic promises, in glorious fashion:

“But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds…So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:38-39, 42-44)

The Apostle Paul is here addressing the resurrection, and cleverly puts in a word or two concerning the lesser creatures. The bodies God gave them are like seeds, which are sown into the ground as perishable, and rise imperishable. This makes more sense considering the promises to restore the created order, and how all of creation groans and awaits the reversal of sin (see Romans 8:19-23). Curiously, I do want to point out one thing from Romans:

“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21)

This brings up some obvious questions and considerations. Did Jesus die to save the animals? Yes. He came to save the world He created, which the lesser creatures are part of:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)

That word for world is the Greek word kosmos. We’re talking the whole created order, because it was ALL infected by sin.

Did Jesus die for the sins of animals? No, He did not. He came in the likeness of sinful man (Romans 8:3). He also didn’t die for the sins of angels. Some were elected unto life and others unto damnation. Can, or do, animals sin? Yes, they both can and do sin against God:

“And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man… “Whosoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image.” (Genesis 9:5-6)

Death is the wage for sin (see Genesis 2:17; Romans 6:23), and sin is transgressing the law of God, which is reflective of His character. I do want to double down here: Christ did not die for the sins of animals (nor the sins of angels), or He would have come in the likeness of one. Man sinned, and that sin infected everything in creation. It follows that only man could fix the problem, and only man can restore what was cursed. So Christ came as a man, not a beast.

This is interesting for at least one reason. In the Genesis passage I quoted from, chapter 9, we have earlier on a curious verse:

“And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.” (Genesis 9:2)

I’d rather not go into all the details in this blog post, but, to keep it simple, there is fear and dread upon the face of man toward the animals. This is why they flee from us. There is a fearful, adrenal response. If they don’t run away, they can either come towards you, or defend themselves in some way or other. Quite literally the image of God provokes the animal. All of that is in context with God’s command that they are still to not shed man’s blood. If man provokes a poor response from the animal simply by being in the vicinity or looking at them, that animal is still not to harm man. Harming man is to reap the wage of death.

There is another part to this about the animals being delivered into our hands, and not just for food, but also for their restoration. We see this in Genesis 9 and Romans 8.

One has only to imagine why all of these limiters were placed right after the flood. First, the animals are afraid of man. Second, shedding the blood of man is prohibited. In Genesis 6 we see that the wickedness of man on earth was so great that God destroyed everything except one family and kinds of all lesser creatures that had souls. (Side note, the animals are in Christ). One doesn’t need to imagine very hard to understand that man’s wickedness poured over to the animals and toward his fellow man. For the earth to be filled, the animals need something for their survival. Fear. For man to multiply, there must be a limit against his blood being shed. “Into your hand they are delivered” I take as more than just for food. To a righteous family, into your hand they are delivered for food, and for being restored. This goes well with the rest of Scripture.

The last consideration is this: God speaks to His lesser creatures, and they know Him. He tells all the kinds of animals to obey one man and enter into a giant cruise ship (Genesis 6:20). God had a donkey rebuke her master (Numbers 22:28). God told ravens to feed His prophet (1 Kings 17:4). He tells lions to not eat His prophet (Daniel 6:22). He commands she-bears to maul disrespectful children (2 Kings 2:24). He tells a giant fish to swallow one of His prophets (Jonah 1:17). You might say, some of those verses don’t say God spoke to the animal, and I would suggest figuring out your anthropomorphisms concerning God. He doesn’t speak as we do. Should we then not say He spoke? He predestined, are there not means to bring it about?

Conclusion: The Bible is clear that your pets will join us in the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). The Bible tells us much about the lesser creatures. However, the weight of what heaven has to offer should primarily be on Christ and not the animals. If Heaven has no Christ, then it is hell. To have Christ is to have everything, everything restored, and everything properly ordered.

May Christ advance His kingdom even here in the dog industry. To God all praise and glory.