What happens when pets die? what the Bible says...

what happens when pets die what the Bible says many of us have felt sad when we lose a family pet to help ease that sadness we often wonder where they are now will we ever see them again do dogs go to heaven when you think about heaven what do you imagine do you picture streets made of gold and seeing Jesus right in front of you maybe you think about reuniting with family members who have passed away or you might remember the promise from Revelation 21:4 that says there will be no more death or Mourning or

crying or pain no matter what you imagine it's still limited because we are trying to understand something that is all about God even our best ideas about the joy of Heaven can't compare to what it will truly be like God created dogs and all animals for a good purpose on days 5 and six of creation God made all the animals on day five he created sea animals and birds and he said they were good on day six he made land animals and humans this might show the special bond people have with the animals that share

the Earth with them we can't know for sure but it seems likely God intended for humans to take care of the animals animals are a gift and responsibility for us they are not equal to humans in God's eyes I really like what Reverend Billy Graham said about his dog in heaven I think God will have prepared everything for our perfect happiness and if it takes my dog being there I believe he'll be there in two separate descriptions of the new Heaven and new earth the Bible mentions that animals will be present Isaiah 11:6 and the

Wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the young goat and the calf and the Young Lion and the fatted steer together and a little child will lead them the Bible talks about peaceful relationships between different animals and this idea is repeated in three more verses as well as in Isa 65:25 while there aren't any pets like dogs or cats specifically mentioned the mention of animals suggests we might see them in heaven too this is where our exploration of what the Bible says about heaven meets the first important point we

discussed Heaven is even better than we can imagine because of the joy and love animals bring into our lives it's possible that God will include them in our eternal etal life we won't know for sure if our dogs will be in heaven with us until we get there but we can trust that whether they are or not we won't feel sad or empty God's presence will fill us with happiness we love our pets like dogs cats birds and more and we often see them as part of our family recently the idea of pets going to

heaven got more attention when Pope Francis was wrongly quoted saying Paradise is open to all God's creatures but actually Paul Paul the for said something similar many years earlier so the big question remains do our dogs go to heaven when they die first let's remember that God made everything for his joy and Glory including animals people in particular were made to bring glory to God the Bible tells us that even the sun moon and stars praise God while they can't praise him like we do they still honor him by shining brightly when everything does what

God created it to do it gives glory to its creator although all of God's creation is for His glory and pleasure human beings alone were created in God's image animals and humans were made from the same dust and share the the same breath of life however God created men and women in his own image he gave them the important job of taking care of protecting and enjoying all of his creation humans due to their capacity for reason are capable of making intelligent and moral decisions unlike animals according to this view God did not create animals

with the ability to choose between right and wrong or to accept or reject salvation only humans were given this unique ability to reason all over the world there are many beautiful cities but we have yet to find a city that we like better than the one we come home to at the end of our journey 11 times in the Book of Revelation chapters 21 and 22 we find the word City it's a place where God and his people will live together it's not a figure of speech but a reference to an actual physical place and

since we will be in our physically resurrected bodies when we live in that City we will need a physical city to live in it's not some dream place it's not some idea it's an actual place the Heavenly Jerusalem is a city now this is not something that should surprise us because the longing for a city has been around way back from the time of Abraham we read in Hebrews 11 about Abraham that he looked for a city whose Builder and maker was God and the Hebrew Christians were told in Hebrews CH 12 that they were

to come to Mount Zion and the City of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem Paul mentions this city in his letter to the Galatians he calls it the Jerusalem above and in Revelation 3 vers 12 it's referred to as the city of my God and the New Jerusalem the New Jerusalem is a city that is in heaven Revelation 21:2 says then I John saw the holy city the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband we read in Revelation 21 in verse 2 that this holy city

was made ready and it came down out of Heaven from God and the phrase made ready implies that the New Jerusalem has already been completed by this time John does not say that he saw the New Jerusalem created he says he saw the New Jerusalem coming out of the heavens and since God dwells in the third heaven as we've already learned we can conclude that he is preparing this city up in the third third heaven to eventually become the capital city of heaven and that final Abode of his children Revelation 3:12 calls it again him

that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God which is New Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new name let me just give you this picture for a moment before I describe this any further one day the city God is building up in the third heaven is going to descend and during the millenum it will

hover over the Earth and then during the Eternal state it will rest upon the ground and it will be the most incredible City anyone has ever ever envisioned it is this City that the Lord was talking about when he said to his disciples I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also what is the Lord Jesus doing now he's working on our place some people call it a mansion call

it what you will it is the part of that future that God has Forest that is under construction right now and when it is finished and it's time for it to come into play we're going to learn how all of this will happen we'll walk through the gates of Perl and as we do we'll be reminded that the only reason we're there is because of the suffering and the pain of the Lord Jesus who PID the wound for us that we might be redeemed so it's a holy city with pearly gates and then next the

Bible tells us that the foundations of the city are of precious stones for those of us who want to be with animal friends forever there is good news and I heard every created thing that is in heaven or on Earth or under the Earth in Hades the realm of the dead or on the sea and everything that is in them saying together to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb Christ be blessing and honor and glory and Dominion forever and ever Revelation 5:3 many passages tell us that animals have souls I said

to myself regarding the sons of men God is surely testing them in order for them to see that by themselves without God they are only animals for the Earthly fate of the sons of men and the Fate of animals is the same as one dies so dies the other indeed they all have the same breath and there is no preeminence or Advantage for man in and of himself over an animal for all is Vanity all go to the same place all came from the dust and all return to the dust who knows if the spirit

of man descends upward and the spirit of the animal ends downward to the Earth Ecclesiastes 3: 18- 21 for even the whole creation all nature Waits eagerly for the children of God to be revealed for the creation was subjected to frustration and futility not willingly because of some intentional fault on its part but by the will of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will also be freed from its bondage to Decay and gain entrance into the Glorious freedom of the children of God Romans 8: 19- 21 your righteousness is like the

mountains of God your judgments are like the great deep oh Lord you preserve man and Beast Psalm 36:6 the Bible tells us that God's Covenant is with all of his creation for every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle on a thousand hills I know every bird of the mountains and everything that moves in the field is mine Psalm 50: 10-11 and in that day I will make a covenant for Israel with the animals of the Open Country and with the birds of the heavens and with the creeping things of the ground and

I will abolish the bow and the sword and banish war from the land and will make them lie down in safety hoseah 2:8 the Bible tells us many times that every animal on earth praises the Lord let everything that has breath and Every Breath of Life praise the Lord praise the Lord hallelujah psalm 150:6 now ask the animals and let them teach you that God does not deal with his creatures according to their character and ask the birds of the air and let them tell you or speak to the Earth with its many forms of

life and it will teach you and let the fish of the sea declare this truth to you who among all these does not recognize in all these things that good and evil are randomly scattered throughout nature and human life that the hand of the Lord has done this in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind job 12: 7-10 let Heaven and Earth Praise Him the Seas and everything that moves in them Psalm 69: 34 sing to the Lord a new song sing his praise from the end of

the Earth Earth you who go down to the Sea and all that is in it you islands and coastlands and those who inhabit them sing his praise Isaiah 42:10 many Christian leaders have also addressed the question of what happens to animals after they die John Wesley who started methodism taught that people are caretakers of God's creation and must look after it when people failed to protect what God made perfectly they sinned against him because of this pain and suffering came into the world and animals had to suffer too the close relationship God created was broken

leading to humans being cruel to animals Wesley believed that one day God would create a new world where animals would be restored to their original Beauty Martin Luther Luther who founded the Lutheran Church agreed with Wesley he said in Paradise there was perfect harmony between people and animals one day that Harmony will return and all of creation will be renewed with Christ in his book Heaven Randy elorn writes that animals like horses cats dogs deer dolphins and even squirrels will benefit from Christ's death and Resurrection he believes that since God created these animals and loves

them we can expect to see them again on the new Earth the Bible tells us that God made animals blessed them and said they were good one day these animals will be part of his perfect Kingdom it's important to remember that God doesn't see animals differently some people might think their dogs and cats will be in heaven but not the chicken they ate for dinner others might imagine a heaven with doves and elephants but not the tiny Mouse they trapped however it's not up to us to decide who gets to be there God makes that

choice and his message is clear the Bible doesn't directly say whether pets or animals have souls or if they will be in heaven but we can look at some Bible teachings to help us understand the Bible tells us that both people people Genesis 2:7 and animals Genesis 1:30 6: 17 7: 15 and 22 have the Breath of Life this means both are living beings the big difference is that people are made in the image of God Genesis chapter 1: 26- 27 while animals are not be being made in God's image means people who can be

spiritual they have thoughts feelings and choices and part of them lives on after death if pets or animals have the soul or Spirit it would be different and lesser than that of humans this could mean that pet or animal Souls do not live on after death another thing to think about when wondering if pets will be in heaven is that animals are part of God's creation in Genesis God made the animals and said they were good Genesis 1:25 so it makes sense that there could be pets and animals in the new Earth revelation 21:1 we

can be sure there will be animals during the millennial Kingdom too Isaiah 11:6 chapter 65: 25 we can't say for sure if some of these animals will be the p we had on Earth but we do know that God is fair and when we get to heaven we will agree with his decision on this matter no matter what it is what does the Bible say about pets in today's world having pets is very common many families have dogs cats hamsters Turtles goldfish chinchillas NES parakeet or geckos some people even keep unusual pets like albino pythons

or hissing cockroaches the Bible doesn't specifically talk about having pets the closest example is from a story told by Nathan where a poor man had only one little you lamb this lamb was special to him he raised it and it grew up with his family it Aid with him drank from his cup and even slept in his arms to him it was like a daughter 2 Samuel 12:3 we can learn a lot about pets by looking at what the Bible says on other subjects if God cares for Animals we should too God's love for Animals

helps us understand why we want Pats God made people in His image Genesis 1: 27 and that means we share his nature which includes caring for animals from the very start God blessed people and told them fill the Earth and subdue it rule over the fish in the sea the birds in the sky and every living creature on the ground Genesis 1: 28 when a child takes care of an aquarium they show God's nature in a special way an aquarium is like a Mini World the child creates a safe home for the fish keeps the

water clean and feeds them the fish rely on the child for everything just like all of creation depends on God so having a pet is a serious responsibility it reflects the Creator's love and shows care for a part of his creation many parents get a pet to help their kids learn responsibility and good values this is a lesson we can find in the Bible pets also bring his friend ship fun and unconditional love that's why we see pets visiting hospitals and nursing homes spreading joy to people who need it any animal that helps us show

love is a wonderful thing are there really streets of gold in heaven look down at Verse 18 then again in verse 21 of chapter 21 and the construction of its wall was of Jasper and the City was pure gold like clear glass and notice verse 21 the 12 gates were 12 pearls each individual gate was of one Pearl and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass I can't imagine it once again can you imagine seeing the city as you approach it seeing the city from afar the gold on the outside the

precious stones on the foundations and this beautiful sense of light that emanates from out of the city from the Throne of God this is the New Jerusalem described in the Scripture it is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 60 and: 19 the sun shall no longer be your light by day nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light and your God will be your glor Glory when the Bible says that this city reflects light it is not from any material combustion

it is not from any consumption of fuel it is from the lamb himself who is the light of the world and in that moment he will be the light of the city no wonder Paul described our future like this in 1 Corinthians 2:9 he said it is written I Has Not Seen Nor Ear heard nor have entered into the heart of men the things which God has prepared for those that love him