By Death Or Rapture: Your Pets Will Go To Heaven
Your pets go to Heaven when they die according to Romans 8:19-23. This isn't a theory or a hope, it's a Biblical fact. I've given people Romans 8:19-23 before when they ask me about animals in heaven and for some reason, they don't see it. So let me break this down and show it to you.
There ya have it. It's right there.
This doesn't mean you have to be a vegetarian or become an animal rights advocate, it just means that animals are waiting for the resurrection like we are and they know it will happen for them when it happens for those of us who are adopted into the Family of God.
I think one of the main reasons why so many Christians don't see this even after reading it in their own Bibles is because most modern translations render the Greek word "ktisis" in verses 19, 20 and 21 as "creation" instead of "creature" and their reasoning for doing that is because the KJV rendered "ktisis" as "creation" in verse 22. Since it's the same word being used in all four verses, modern translators assumed the King James translators must have made a mistake in the first three. But those modern translators should have done more homework. The King James translators knew exactly what they were doing.
The Greek word "ktisis" can either mean creation as a whole, or an individual creature within the creation. (The same way we would use the word "fish" to denote a school of fish or a single fish.) In order to translate that accurately into English, the King James translators rendered it "creation" in verse 22 because Paul was obviously talking about the whole of creation in that verse. But in verses 19, 20 and 21, the King James translators rendered it "creature" because in those sentences, Paul was obviously referring to individual animals who expect and wait, which means they have consciousness (verse 19), who suffer against their will, which means they have a will (verse 20), who wait and expect to be delivered from their own suffering and death (verse 21).
One of the most often question I get is the question of what happens to our pets at the Rapture. Will they come with us?
While Romans 8:19-23 proves to us that animals go to Heaven when they die, can we take what it says in verse 19 literally to mean that animals are actually waiting for the Rapture themselves? Is that what it's saying? I know that sounds crazy, but it appears to me that's what it's actually saying! It says they're waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God so that they can be set free from the bondage of death just like the rest of us.
The "sons of God" in this passage is referring to resurrected Christians. So animals are waiting to see the manifestation of resurrected Christians so that they can be set free from the bondage of death. When do Christians manifest as resurrected Christians? At the Rapture! So it sounds like they're going with us to me!
An arguement against that might be that even though we're resurrected into Heaven at the Rapture, we aren't actually manifested as "sons of God" to the world until we come back with Christ after the Great Tribulation. While that view is filled with assumptions about what the Rapture will look like to the world, it also violates the whole point of Paul's comparison. It doesn't fit the flavor of this passage at all.
Paul is comparing our waiting for THE RESURRECTION under the bondage and pain of death to the animals waiting for THE RESURRECTION under the bondage and pain of death. He's saying that we're both waiting for THE RESURRECTION under the bondage of pain and death. We're both waiting for a single event: THE RESURRECTION. Christians aren't going through the Great Tribulation so why would Paul compare us to the animals if they were going through the Great Tribulation to die and be resurrected later?
Besides, all symbolic models of the Rapture in the Bible show the animals going with us. There were more animals on Noah's Ark than there were human beings. On the night of the 1st Passover, when the angel of death came for the first born, all of the first born were killed from the 1st born of Pharaoh to the 1st born of his servants to the 1st born of their livestock. But for those who had lamb's blood on their door, the 1st born were saved INCLUDING the 1st born of their livestock. When Israel escaped Egypt altogether, their animals came with them. In every case that we see God pouring His wrath upon the earth, we also see God saving His own people first before He does it and we also see their animals being saved with them. Every time.
So I believe with all of my heart that they're coming with us. I've prayed about this and that's the conclusion that I believe the Lord has led me to personally, but I can't prove it Biblically other than the examples I've given above. There's probably much more to back it up, but I haven't discovered it yet.
It's just common sense, folks. Who is our Father? What kind of God do we have? Who is our Lord Jesus?
If we decided we were going to pack up and leave our home for 7 years to go on some exotic vacation, do you think the Lord would approve of us leaving our pets behind without any thought or concern for their well-being? Certainly not! Proverbs 12:10 says that the righteous man regards the well being of his animal so I can't see God taking us in the Rapture and not bringing our animals with us. They're members of the family.
Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature (animals) waits (consciously expecting, waiting) for the manifestation (the appearing) of the sons of God (resurrected Christians).
Romans 8:20 For the creature (the animal) was made subject to vanity (was forced under the curse of death), not willingly (not according to their will, which means they have a will, this went against their will), but by reason of Him (God) who hath subjected the same in hope (hope in the resurrection as described in the next verse),
Romans 8:21 Because the creature itself (the individual animals themselves) also (not just humans, but animals also) shall be delivered (saved) from the bondage of corruption (death) into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Heaven: The same Heaven where God's children will be.).
Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation (all living things on the earth) groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now (they're all conscious of pain and death and they don't like it any more than we do)
Romans 8:23 And not only they (the animals), but ourselves also (us human beings too!), which have the firstfruits of the Spirit (human beings who've been given the Holy Spirit because they're saved), even we ourselves groan within ourselves (even we Christians groan about the pain and corruption of death), waiting (just like the animals are waiting in verse 19) for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (The resurrection.)
There ya have it. It's right there.
This doesn't mean you have to be a vegetarian or become an animal rights advocate, it just means that animals are waiting for the resurrection like we are and they know it will happen for them when it happens for those of us who are adopted into the Family of God.
I think one of the main reasons why so many Christians don't see this even after reading it in their own Bibles is because most modern translations render the Greek word "ktisis" in verses 19, 20 and 21 as "creation" instead of "creature" and their reasoning for doing that is because the KJV rendered "ktisis" as "creation" in verse 22. Since it's the same word being used in all four verses, modern translators assumed the King James translators must have made a mistake in the first three. But those modern translators should have done more homework. The King James translators knew exactly what they were doing.
The Greek word "ktisis" can either mean creation as a whole, or an individual creature within the creation. (The same way we would use the word "fish" to denote a school of fish or a single fish.) In order to translate that accurately into English, the King James translators rendered it "creation" in verse 22 because Paul was obviously talking about the whole of creation in that verse. But in verses 19, 20 and 21, the King James translators rendered it "creature" because in those sentences, Paul was obviously referring to individual animals who expect and wait, which means they have consciousness (verse 19), who suffer against their will, which means they have a will (verse 20), who wait and expect to be delivered from their own suffering and death (verse 21).
One of the most often question I get is the question of what happens to our pets at the Rapture. Will they come with us?
While Romans 8:19-23 proves to us that animals go to Heaven when they die, can we take what it says in verse 19 literally to mean that animals are actually waiting for the Rapture themselves? Is that what it's saying? I know that sounds crazy, but it appears to me that's what it's actually saying! It says they're waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God so that they can be set free from the bondage of death just like the rest of us.
The "sons of God" in this passage is referring to resurrected Christians. So animals are waiting to see the manifestation of resurrected Christians so that they can be set free from the bondage of death. When do Christians manifest as resurrected Christians? At the Rapture! So it sounds like they're going with us to me!
An arguement against that might be that even though we're resurrected into Heaven at the Rapture, we aren't actually manifested as "sons of God" to the world until we come back with Christ after the Great Tribulation. While that view is filled with assumptions about what the Rapture will look like to the world, it also violates the whole point of Paul's comparison. It doesn't fit the flavor of this passage at all.
Paul is comparing our waiting for THE RESURRECTION under the bondage and pain of death to the animals waiting for THE RESURRECTION under the bondage and pain of death. He's saying that we're both waiting for THE RESURRECTION under the bondage of pain and death. We're both waiting for a single event: THE RESURRECTION. Christians aren't going through the Great Tribulation so why would Paul compare us to the animals if they were going through the Great Tribulation to die and be resurrected later?
Besides, all symbolic models of the Rapture in the Bible show the animals going with us. There were more animals on Noah's Ark than there were human beings. On the night of the 1st Passover, when the angel of death came for the first born, all of the first born were killed from the 1st born of Pharaoh to the 1st born of his servants to the 1st born of their livestock. But for those who had lamb's blood on their door, the 1st born were saved INCLUDING the 1st born of their livestock. When Israel escaped Egypt altogether, their animals came with them. In every case that we see God pouring His wrath upon the earth, we also see God saving His own people first before He does it and we also see their animals being saved with them. Every time.
So I believe with all of my heart that they're coming with us. I've prayed about this and that's the conclusion that I believe the Lord has led me to personally, but I can't prove it Biblically other than the examples I've given above. There's probably much more to back it up, but I haven't discovered it yet.
It's just common sense, folks. Who is our Father? What kind of God do we have? Who is our Lord Jesus?
If we decided we were going to pack up and leave our home for 7 years to go on some exotic vacation, do you think the Lord would approve of us leaving our pets behind without any thought or concern for their well-being? Certainly not! Proverbs 12:10 says that the righteous man regards the well being of his animal so I can't see God taking us in the Rapture and not bringing our animals with us. They're members of the family.
Yes, Animals DO Go To Heaven When They Die!
Yes, Animals STILL Go To Heaven When They Die! (2016 Update)
Why Is This So Hard ?
