When Pastors Say Animals Don't Go To Heaven
I really hate to harp on this, you've already heard me talk about this many times here, here, here and here, but pastors keep getting this wrong and it grieves me every time they do. Animals DO have eternal souls and they're actually waiting and expecting the resurrection just as we are according to Romans 8:19-23. It's right there in black and white. I don't know why more pastors don't know about this. It's one of the top 10 questions that they keep receiving about Heaven and they keep getting it wrong! Pastors are just human beings. Whoever your favorite pastor is, don't assume they know everything. Everybody has their blind spots. I'm sure I have my own.
But I'd like to respond to the claim that the Bible doesn't say anything about animals being resurrected or going to Heaven, even after reading Romans 8:19-23, which I find incredible.
One common objection is that God never breathed into the nostrils of the animals, only man. But that's not exactly what the text says. It only mentions God breathing into the nostrils of man because man was the focus of Genesis Chapter 2 where it's mentioned. Genesis 6:17, 7:15, and 7:22 all reveal that both humans and animals have the breath of life.
The next common objection I hear is that the breath of life in humans isn't the same as the breath of life in animals. But I can't find anywhere in Scripture where there exists such a thing as a "natural" breath of life. God "breathed" into man's nostrils, and THEN he became a living soul. The BREATH of life is God's breath. Anyone or anything which has the breath of life, got it from God and by no other means.
So the only reason why human beings are superior to the animals is because God created us in His image. It's not because we have a soul and animals don't or because we have the breath of life and animals don't or because we have a spirit and animals don't. None of that is Biblical. Solomon even mocks those who think that by saying, "How do you know that?" in Ecclesiastes 3:21.
Another common objection claims that Romans 8:19-23 isn't talking about animals at all but the creation as a whole. But this is an idea that comes from the mistranslation of most of the modern English Bibles where it uses the word "creation" instead of "creature". While God's plan of redemption includes the entire creation, Paul is specifically talking about the animals in this passage. How could the creation itself be longing and waiting for anything? The creation doesn't have a soul. The creation doesn't have the breath of life. The creation doesn't have consciousness. The creation doesn't have a will of its own. Paul was pointing to the suffering and pain of animals giving birth, striving to live, aging, and then dying, like all of us are doing. That's the comparison he's drawing. Why would he compare our struggles with the planet? That's New Age mysticism, Paganism and pantheism, not Biblical Christianity.
When God created the animals, they were created to be eternal. We often hear that only human souls are eternal, but it's a simple fact that both humans and animals were both created to be immortal. There was no death in the Creation. Therefore, animal souls were eternal when they were created in the beginning. When man sinned, it brought death into the world for everybody both humans and animals alike.
But by Jesus doing what He did at the Cross, He reconciled ALL THINGS UNTO HIMSELF (Colossians 1:15-20) whether "things" on earth or "things" in Heaven. I don't know how it would be possible for God to reconcile all things unto Himself if He's going to allow 6000 years worth of animals to die and remain dead that He never intended to die in the first place.
Jesus said that He's making ALL THINGS NEW (Revelation 21:5), as in RESTORED as in RESURRECTED. He's not just trashing the old and making new things to replace them, He's making all things which are already here, which are dead or dying, and making them brand new. If a single dead animal can remain on this earth without a resurrection, then Jesus can't say He's making all things new.
God's plan of redemption includes the entire creation. We tend to think of the Gospel as "humans only" simply because humans are the only ones who have a choice in the matter. We can either accept God's terms of reconciliation or we can reject them. Only those who refuse to accept the Blood of Jesus to cover their sins are prevented from being redeemed. Everybody else and every THING else is included.
The whole point of what Jesus did at the Cross and the whole plan of God throughout history has been to undo what Satan did in the garden. If one single innocent life can die and not be restored by God's redemption, then Satan wins and God loses.
All wisdom, reason and logic has to be thrown into the trash in order to believe that animals don't go to Heaven under any circumstances, especially when those circumstances ARE INDEED mentioned several places throughout the Bible.
If Ecclesiastes has taught us anything, it's that absolutely nothing matters unless it is eternal. Everything else is vain and empty and chasing the wind. So why would God even be mindful of animals as it says He is in Psalm 50:10-12? Is God being vain and empty by doing so? Is God chasing the wind? Why would God be so meticulously obsessive over whether or not a single sparrow falls to the ground (Matthew 10:29) or bother to feed them (Matthew 6:26) or declare a man righteous who regards the life of his own animal (Proverbs 12:10) if their very existence is vain, empty and chasing the wind?
Now this last thing here is more personal, so it may not apply to everyone else. I try to keep my reasons Biblical and not personal, but I'll admit this one is personal. We know that Jesus promised us that He was going to prepare a place for us in John 14:1-3. You know the passage? "In my Father's house are many mansions and I am going to prepare a place for you..." I take that promise very personally.
Jesus has a place that is prepared just for me and nobody else. If that place doesn't have all of the animals that He has entrusted to me throughout my life who then became extended members of my family, if they are not already there waiting for me when I get there, then Jesus cannot say that this place was prepared for me. It would be unfinished. It would be inadequately prepared. I could never call it home. While that statement may sound bold and perhaps blasphemous to some, I say it with confidence and assurance and with what I believe to be the Lord's approval.
I don't know where else to go with this. I mean, even after reading Romans 8:19-23, if you still can't see it even after reading Romans 8:19-23, then I don't know where to go from here.
But I'd like to respond to the claim that the Bible doesn't say anything about animals being resurrected or going to Heaven, even after reading Romans 8:19-23, which I find incredible.
One common objection is that God never breathed into the nostrils of the animals, only man. But that's not exactly what the text says. It only mentions God breathing into the nostrils of man because man was the focus of Genesis Chapter 2 where it's mentioned. Genesis 6:17, 7:15, and 7:22 all reveal that both humans and animals have the breath of life.
The next common objection I hear is that the breath of life in humans isn't the same as the breath of life in animals. But I can't find anywhere in Scripture where there exists such a thing as a "natural" breath of life. God "breathed" into man's nostrils, and THEN he became a living soul. The BREATH of life is God's breath. Anyone or anything which has the breath of life, got it from God and by no other means.
So the only reason why human beings are superior to the animals is because God created us in His image. It's not because we have a soul and animals don't or because we have the breath of life and animals don't or because we have a spirit and animals don't. None of that is Biblical. Solomon even mocks those who think that by saying, "How do you know that?" in Ecclesiastes 3:21.
Another common objection claims that Romans 8:19-23 isn't talking about animals at all but the creation as a whole. But this is an idea that comes from the mistranslation of most of the modern English Bibles where it uses the word "creation" instead of "creature". While God's plan of redemption includes the entire creation, Paul is specifically talking about the animals in this passage. How could the creation itself be longing and waiting for anything? The creation doesn't have a soul. The creation doesn't have the breath of life. The creation doesn't have consciousness. The creation doesn't have a will of its own. Paul was pointing to the suffering and pain of animals giving birth, striving to live, aging, and then dying, like all of us are doing. That's the comparison he's drawing. Why would he compare our struggles with the planet? That's New Age mysticism, Paganism and pantheism, not Biblical Christianity.
When God created the animals, they were created to be eternal. We often hear that only human souls are eternal, but it's a simple fact that both humans and animals were both created to be immortal. There was no death in the Creation. Therefore, animal souls were eternal when they were created in the beginning. When man sinned, it brought death into the world for everybody both humans and animals alike.
But by Jesus doing what He did at the Cross, He reconciled ALL THINGS UNTO HIMSELF (Colossians 1:15-20) whether "things" on earth or "things" in Heaven. I don't know how it would be possible for God to reconcile all things unto Himself if He's going to allow 6000 years worth of animals to die and remain dead that He never intended to die in the first place.
Jesus said that He's making ALL THINGS NEW (Revelation 21:5), as in RESTORED as in RESURRECTED. He's not just trashing the old and making new things to replace them, He's making all things which are already here, which are dead or dying, and making them brand new. If a single dead animal can remain on this earth without a resurrection, then Jesus can't say He's making all things new.
God's plan of redemption includes the entire creation. We tend to think of the Gospel as "humans only" simply because humans are the only ones who have a choice in the matter. We can either accept God's terms of reconciliation or we can reject them. Only those who refuse to accept the Blood of Jesus to cover their sins are prevented from being redeemed. Everybody else and every THING else is included.
The whole point of what Jesus did at the Cross and the whole plan of God throughout history has been to undo what Satan did in the garden. If one single innocent life can die and not be restored by God's redemption, then Satan wins and God loses.
All wisdom, reason and logic has to be thrown into the trash in order to believe that animals don't go to Heaven under any circumstances, especially when those circumstances ARE INDEED mentioned several places throughout the Bible.
If Ecclesiastes has taught us anything, it's that absolutely nothing matters unless it is eternal. Everything else is vain and empty and chasing the wind. So why would God even be mindful of animals as it says He is in Psalm 50:10-12? Is God being vain and empty by doing so? Is God chasing the wind? Why would God be so meticulously obsessive over whether or not a single sparrow falls to the ground (Matthew 10:29) or bother to feed them (Matthew 6:26) or declare a man righteous who regards the life of his own animal (Proverbs 12:10) if their very existence is vain, empty and chasing the wind?
Now this last thing here is more personal, so it may not apply to everyone else. I try to keep my reasons Biblical and not personal, but I'll admit this one is personal. We know that Jesus promised us that He was going to prepare a place for us in John 14:1-3. You know the passage? "In my Father's house are many mansions and I am going to prepare a place for you..." I take that promise very personally.
Jesus has a place that is prepared just for me and nobody else. If that place doesn't have all of the animals that He has entrusted to me throughout my life who then became extended members of my family, if they are not already there waiting for me when I get there, then Jesus cannot say that this place was prepared for me. It would be unfinished. It would be inadequately prepared. I could never call it home. While that statement may sound bold and perhaps blasphemous to some, I say it with confidence and assurance and with what I believe to be the Lord's approval.
I don't know where else to go with this. I mean, even after reading Romans 8:19-23, if you still can't see it even after reading Romans 8:19-23, then I don't know where to go from here.
Yes, Animals Go To Heaven
Yes, Animals Still Go To Heaven
Why Is This So Hard?
Will Animals Get Raptured?
