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.
A common objection that I often hear 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.
Another 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 is that Romans 8:19-23 isn't talking about animals at all but the creation as a whole which would mean that the deliverance from the bondage of corruption it's talking about is the removal of the curse during the Millennial Reign of Christ. But people on the earth can still sin and even die during the Millennial Reign so that's not what Paul's talking about and second of all, the idea that this verse is talking about the creation as a whole comes from the mistranslation of modern English Bibles where it uses the word "creation" rather than "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, feeling pain, 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. Therefore, they were created with eternal souls. 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 just like the human souls were eternal when they were created. 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 an innocent life can die and remain on this earth without a resurrection, then Jesus couldn't say He's making all things new. Neither could the Father by Jesus reconcile all things unto Himself.
God's plan of redemption includes the entire creation. We tend to think of the Gospel as "humans only" because God became a man and died as a man to pay for the sins of humanity. Humans are the primary reason He came to begin with because we're the only ones who were sinners and who needed atonement. But we aren't the only beneficiaries of the Cross. We're the only ones who have a choice. 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 even one single innocent life can die and not be restored by God's redemption, then Satan wins and God loses.
All Godly 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: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go 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.
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.)
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.
A common objection that I often hear 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.
Another 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 is that Romans 8:19-23 isn't talking about animals at all but the creation as a whole which would mean that the deliverance from the bondage of corruption it's talking about is the removal of the curse during the Millennial Reign of Christ. But people on the earth can still sin and even die during the Millennial Reign so that's not what Paul's talking about and second of all, the idea that this verse is talking about the creation as a whole comes from the mistranslation of modern English Bibles where it uses the word "creation" rather than "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, feeling pain, 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. Therefore, they were created with eternal souls. 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 just like the human souls were eternal when they were created. 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 an innocent life can die and remain on this earth without a resurrection, then Jesus couldn't say He's making all things new. Neither could the Father by Jesus reconcile all things unto Himself.
God's plan of redemption includes the entire creation. We tend to think of the Gospel as "humans only" because God became a man and died as a man to pay for the sins of humanity. Humans are the primary reason He came to begin with because we're the only ones who were sinners and who needed atonement. But we aren't the only beneficiaries of the Cross. We're the only ones who have a choice. 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 even one single innocent life can die and not be restored by God's redemption, then Satan wins and God loses.
All Godly 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: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go 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?
