Will I See My Dead Pet In Heaven or In The New Earth?
By Abraham Israel
Question : Do animals have salvation? Will God bring them alive again or else the spirit of animals, birds and sea creatures will get dissipated in to thin air. Do they have souls too? I am asking you this because I had a pet dog that I would love to see in heaven. Thank you for you answer in advance.
Answer : Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name! This is a wonderful theme to search deep in to the word and understand what it says about the salvation of all creatures other than humans (Acts 17:11).
This theme is something which is close to my heart too. I will explain why it is in my answer. Actually this was a intriguing question in my heart and I asked my Dad about it. Years ago he said to me that animals have no soul at all and I was deeply disappointed within because we had a German Shepherd Dog named Steffi who was the fifth member in our family of four people. At that point of time our Steffi was getting old day by day and I was very concerned about it. Our Steffi is someone who made us laugh when we were sad, brightened our life when there was much days of darkness surrounding us, she silently accepted our tears without any judgment and would look in to our eyes as though she had understood how bad we felt and how sad she feels too, she would snuggle with us and would jump up to us to show her face up to ours which we would not encourage by raising our knees to its chest which will make her fall down and realize her mistake, and finally the greatest thing about Steffi is that she would forgive our mistakes so soon and would again love us unconditionally by coming to us wagging her tail showing her loyalty and trust in our leadership.
Many who come to our house were always amazed at the intelligence of Steffi which we really never taught it but I believe it has been graced by God. We always would talk to Steffi as like to a human being, and the wonderful thing is that it would understand what we really wanted to convey and act according to the need of the situation.
We as a family took care of Steffi as a fifth family member. Initially Dad did not like animals or any other pets, but when he saw me and my Brother John taking care of Steffi lovingly, and Steffi also lovingly wagging its tail and always standing as a body guard where ever Dad went when we were not in home during our college studies, then later he too learned to love and take care of it as we took care of Steffi. When Dad was not there in home, Steffi would immediately become the body guard of mum who will take care of her. Like this, she had hierarchy of master's to whom she automatically showed allegiance. This was a amazing quality she exhibited.
Steffi went through a operation for the removal of uterus which a dear Doctor did to bring her health up and heal her permanently of the skin problems she had due to chemical imbalance in her body. We took much effort and care for her to recover and after that she would climb down to do her daily chores and would climb up to the first floor where we are put up. Steffi had a great heart to do this for nearly 3 to four years even until it died. But at the end of her life only Dad and Mom were there to take care. One week at that point of time I visited our home a weekend and saw Steffi struggling to do poo and my heart broke.
Each day I would go to the open terrace above the place where we stayed in the Church to pray, Steffi would always come and lie down at the top until I would finish my prayer and then would come down. This time as I went up in the evening leaving Steffi down in my home as she was weak even to walk, a little later I was amazed to see her coming towards me on the open terrace by using all her strength to climb each step and find me at the top. Tears rolled out of my eyes as I saw the great heart of love in Steffi. Then as I prayed to God I was burdened to pray for Steffi to be taken up by Him and not suffer like this in her old age, then God said that within a week I will take her up. As I finished that week end and returned back to Bangalore where I am, the next Friday as I was praying to God, God brought a thought and a impression that Steffi was no more there. My mum fearing that we will be upset hearing the news she delayed the news for a day, and the next day one cousin who stayed and helped with us called me up and the first question I asked her was, "Has Steffi died?" She in a sorrowful voice slowly said, yes.
Then I heard the full news from other close sources who said that Dad really cried when he saw Steffi dead, he was never a emotional person as he was hardly seen crying, only a few times in our entire life time we saw him cry, one time when a dear elder of the Church who worked as a assistant pastor died suddenly of Cancer in short period of time, a few drop of tears I saw and then when his mother died, a few drop of tears I again saw. Hearing that really shocked me and after that because of this belief that animals have no souls, he was not able to react to the situation properly. But my dear mother took the body of Steffi and wrapped it in a white cloth and kept it ready for a burial of honor and dignity for what it has been to us all these years. Finally Dad agreed to pray and let it be buried within the Church premises. With the help of young boys who loved it, Mum finally guided them to dig a grave. Then nearly all the believers who lived around the Church heard the news and arrived to see Steffi get buried. They were all deeply sad about what happened.
In the whole real story I have told, few things we will take out as a question to be answered further in our article. (1) Is God concerned about the life of animals which He has created? (2) Do animals have souls within them? (3) If they have souls, will they be saved and come again to life? (4) What does the Bible say about the future life of all animals and birds? (5) Why it is important to think Biblically regarding all creations of God and get answers which will direct our life and values?
(1) Is God concerned about the life of animals which He has created?
God has said in His word, "A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." (Prov 12:10). In other words, the tender heart of a righteous man will regard the life of his animals automatically, but a wicked person's best thought and reaction towards seeing his suffering animal will be still nothing but a cruelty. Just ask yourself the question, if the righteous man who is saved by God from sin has a tender heart enough which regards the life of his animal, how much more the Creator of all animals and all other living beings will be concerned towards his creation.
Jesus said, "26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matt 6:26). This above Scripture says and shows that not only God is concerned when birds suffer but also He is the one who feeds them to make it live on the earth and not die due to lack of food (Job 38:41). God has claimed in His word that all the animals and birds of the forest belong to Him and He knows all of them personally and feeds them with food because they are valuable to Him (Psa 50:10-11; Luke 12:24). Every living creature actually waits for God to provide food for its survival, and He does provides for it all at the right time, even though it is not His perfect will for one to eat the other, but willingly God has allowed this result of sin to affect all the living creatures temporarily to achieve the eternal good of all the animals, birds and all living creatures (Psa 104:25-30; Job 38:39-41; Rom 8:28). Jesus in Matt 10:29 said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will." So we know from the above exposition that God is so concerned about all his living creatures from the time of its birth to its death and not one of them dies without His permission.
(2) Do animals have souls within them?
As I told you that I have been very confused whether animals and birds have souls until I found that it all has a soul individually within them as the Bible points out. When people say that animals and birds have no souls and so they dissipate in to thin air once they die, do not believe it.
What is a soul was the question that I asked myself first and what are its components was my sincere search? We know from the Bible that a soul has three main component within it, mind, emotion and will. A mind that thinks and decides from the database of knowledge (Prov 23:7), the emotional part of the soul feels for the decisions whether good or bad taken by it (Matt 26:38) and the will part of soul take the decision when the mind directs it (Matt 16:25-26; Luke 12:17-19).
At the time of the creation of man the Bible says, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [body], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [spirit]; and man became a living being [soul]." (Gen 2:7). The spirit is God conscious, the soul is self-conscious and the body is world conscious. When God took the dust body and blew within it the breath of life which is nothing but the creating and sustaining power of God's Spirit, it created a new spirit personality within us, out of which a living soul was formed which became conscious about the life within itself in relationship to the body which covered the spirit. When God takes the spirit out of man, the soul gets separated again from the body. Because when the soul was formed, it got intertwined with the immaterial spirit rather than the material body when the spirit entered the body with life. When the spirit is taken out of the body, the soul comes with the spirit leaving the body dead. So all the souls are immortal because it had life in itself by the decree of God from the beginning of his creation. This applies to both humans and all other living creatures alike (Psa 104:29-30).
If we raise the question, Where does it say in the Bible that animals have souls? The answer is, You will find it in the same place where it says that "man has a soul" -- that is nowhere. The Bible reveals that man... and animals... are souls -- they don't have one put within them by God. As we have discussed above when God's spirit was blown in to dust body, a individual spirit came in to existence "...and man became a living soul." It doesn't say that God put a soul into man and did not put that for animals and others creatures. As much as humans were created out of the dust of the ground, equally all the beasts of the fields, the birds of the air and all the sea creatures were made out of the dust of the ground too (Gen 2:2:7, 19, 20). The only difference was that, God breathed in to man individually the breath of life by the Spirit of God as He wanted to make them in His own spiritual image to connect back to Himself (Gen 1:26-27), the animals, birds and other living creatures were spoken in to existence without His personal involvement unlike humans (Psa 33:9; Rom 4:17; Heb 1:3).
We see that on the fifth day God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures [souls], and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens....the fifth day.” (Gen 1:20, 23). The English word 'creatures' specifically means 'souls, this is the first occurrence of nephesh in the whole Bible. Specifically the word 'nephesh' indicates life, when the Bible says "the moving creature that hath life (nephesh)"(Gen. 1:20), it points out that all sea creatures too have a soul individually. It is used interchangeably for birds, animals and humans in various areas of the Bible to mean many different variety and behavior of soul life.
On the sixth day God created both animals according to its kind and also humans in the image of God (Gen 1:24-31). But one thing that is common of all the living creatures is that it does have soul. Here is the word that proves it, "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life [living soul], I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so." (Gen 1:30). In the above verse God describes, all the animals and beasts of the earth, birds of the air and everything that that creeps on the earth as something that has living soul within them. In other words, the word 'life' in Hebrew is 'nephesh' which means 'a living soul'.
The soul in itself is immortal and never dies, whether it is the soul of an animal, bird or any sea creature has not been distinguished separately. This is the reason, God has revealed through apostle Paul that the whole creation of animals, birds and every sea creatures that has died and also living on earth is earnestly expecting, groaning and awaiting with increasing frequency of hope for the sons of God to arise upon the earth and redeem them again in to that immortal state of having a new eternal body in the new heaven and new earth (Rom 8:18-22; Isa 65:17-19, 24-25; Rev 21:1-4).
(3) If they have souls, will they be saved and come again to life?
We know that God created Adam in chapter one of the creation story and was placed on earth to have dominion over the fish of the sea, birds of the air, the cattle, all the earth and every creeping things that creep on the earth (Gen 1:26-30). Man was created in the likeness of the image of God which is a spiritual image which Adam replicated in fellowship with God and among themselves (2 Cor 3:18). God brought every beast of the field and birds of the air to Adam to see what he would call them in the second Chapter of the creation story of Genesis, from this we know that all animals were made to relate with Adam and be under his dominion and control (Gen 2:19). In other words, animals, birds and all living creatures were created to have fellowship with human beings and relate to them in a loving way. In it God has clearly expected that Adam by naming all of these creatures would come to understand that they were all made in their own image and that he himself is only person on earth in the very image of God uniquely distinguished apart from all that is under him (Gen 2:20; Rom 1:23). It exactly happened as God expected and God proceeded immediately to the next phase of creating woman out of man for intimacy of fellowship with his kind (Gen 2:21-22). Apostle Paul says in 1 Cor 15:39, "All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds." In other words, the flesh life of living creatures made by God on earth is of four types. Each of the four types of them are unique and don't mix with the other type of flesh, within this bottom three types there are umpteen number of its kind in all of the following flesh and because man was made in the very image of God, only one of its kind [i.e. man-kind] is made by God and decreed to spread in all the earth (Gen 1:21, 24, 25; Gen 1:27; Acts 17:26).
So from the above exposition, we can see that all living creatures are man focused and only man is God focused in their purpose of living. Jesus told, " 39 ...“For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” 40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains." (John 9:39-41). In the above verses we see that Jesus Himself assured that if somebody is spiritually blind toward God, they have no sin. If we apply this to the animals, birds and sea creatures that were created by God to be under the dominion of man, because they were created by God to be focused towards man in their very purpose of existence, they have no sin in their soul by their own choice, but all of them came under the curse of sin because they were all given under the in charge of Adam who disobeyed God's command and fell in to sin. All the whole earth and its living creatures were subject by God to curse in the hope that one day His sons of the new creation would rise up and remove all the curses upon these living creatures (Rom 5:12; 8:19-22; 2 Cor 5:17).
So sin of all men is falling short of the glory of God for which every one will go to hell fire if they do not search and find the God who has allowed it all, to save them by their own choice of faith in Him and His promises (Acts 17:26-27; Rev 20:11-15). Because we are born with a God focused spirit that is designed to have the consciousness of God unlike animals, we are expected to be saved from sin which we will understand through our very conscience within us which always acts as the lamp of God (Rom 3:23; 1:20-21; Prov 20:27).
One thing we should understand is that we can get a implicit clue from the Scriptures that the spirit of all living creatures might go in to the prison under the earth where it will be kept until the new heaven and earth will come in to existence. How can we know this for sure? We see the preacher in Ecclesiastes saying that when a person is dead, "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." (Eccl 12:7). In other words, the preacher is saying that once any living thing dies, its bodies which are made of dust return to the earth and the spirit within them is under the control of God and nobody including all demons can be able to touch it.
Then once again we see the preacher who wrote Ecclesiastes saying in his heart, ""18...Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” 19 For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. 21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?" (Eccl 3:18-21). In the above verses we see that physically apart from the spiritual image of God, man is like an animal. All come from the same place which is the dust and go to the same place (Gen 2:7, 19). But at the end, the preacher was skeptical to say, who knows that the spirit of the sons of men goes upward focused toward God to regain his lost image of God and the spirit of the animal goes downward focused after their death in the hope to regain their man focused life again through the redeemed sons of God, because of his lack of maturity in his spiritual life which made him doubt this fact which God wanted him to convey to His people.
We know that all the spirits of unsaved men is kept in a prison named as 'Hades' under the earth for the day of judgment (Luke 16:23). Even the souls of righteous men were kept on the other side of this prison until Jesus came to rescue and then took all of them to heaven once they were conformed to the image of God again in their spirit-man by hearing the gospel (Zec 9:11; Luke 16:22; Eph 4:8-10; 1 Peter 3:18-19; 4:6). So because the spirit of the animals has been assumed by the preacher to go down, it does have some solid truth in it. God might have kept the living creatures soul's down deep somewhere in the lower parts of the earth where it all must be groaning to God to send the redeemed sons of God to come and release them in to the freedom of the children of God in the new heavens and the new earth (Rom 8:22, 19, 20-21).
God has a salvation plan through the redeemed children of God who will be liberated with a glorious body to work with Jesus and reign for a thousand years in righteousness. For this thousand years the Church will stay within the New Jerusalem in the mansions that Jesus has prepared for them in his Father's house (John 14:2-3). At the end of this Millennium rule with Jesus, the old heaven and earth will pass away being burnt with fire, and the New Jerusalem will be lowered in to the New Heaven and New Earth and will be placed in the center of the new earth for which we as the Church and all the saints are waiting for (2 Peter 3:10-13; Isa 34:4; Rev 21:1-4).
By the way it is not just we redeemed saints who are looking for the new earth, as apostle Paul revealed that the whole creation is waiting for that day in which the redeemed saints and children of God will under the authority of God will make all these living creatures from the first day of creation until the end of the Millennial rule of Jesus to inhabit the new earth in the liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:22, 19, 20-21). God has promised to subdue all things unto Himself through his redeemed sons (Php 3:20-21). Like Jesus went in to the prison and took captivity captives and ascended, I believe all the sons of God will do the same and bring all living creatures of God in to the new earth for the glory of God by the liberty of the Spirit (Eph 4:8-10; Rom 8:19, 21; 2 Cor 3:17).
(4) What does the Bible say about the future life of all animals and birds?
The future life in the New Earth is bright for all the animals, birds and all living creatures because it will surely happen on day through the redeemed sons of God.
We read in the following Scripture, "Then they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh..."" (Num 16:22), which implies that our God is a God of all flesh which includes animals, birds and all sea creatures (1 Cor 15:39). Because all animals belong to God, when Jesus sacrificed Himself as "one sacrifice for sins forever" (Heb 10:12), it is an all inclusive salvation for all flesh, but that which is primarily for humans first and through them it is also included for animals, birds and all sea creatures too.
The above truth is proved in the following Scriptures which says, "4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:.... 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” (Luke 3:4, 6). All flesh includes the four types of flesh described by Paul the apostle and it is as follows, human flesh, birds flesh, animals flesh and sea creatures or fish flesh (1 Cor 15:39). This means one day all these different flesh will see the salvation of God in the New Earth.
Then David the beloved Psalmist who was very close to the heart of God wrote the following Psalm and exalted God saying, "Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O LORD, You preserve man and beast." (Psa 36:6). Here in the above verse the Psalmist when speaking about God's judgment, he says that God preserves both man and beast. In other words, God is as concerned about saving beasts from the curse and effect of sin as much as He has saved man from sin and judgment for sin.
We see the prophet Daniel Prophesied the following to the King Nebuchadnezzar saying, "37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold." (Dan 2:37-38). Notice in the above prophecy Daniel the prophet says to the king, that the God of heaven has given him a kingdom, power, strength, and glory wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. In other words, when God sees the earth from heaven He is seeing humans first but then under their control he also sees the animals and birds and all living creatures put under him and loves them all to care for all of them together with humans who are His highest love (Luke 12:24). O what a God we have!!! May God open the eyes of all the Christian saints who have not yet believed the goodness of God towards all His living creatures too.
Through Isaiah the prophet God has revealed that in the Millennium kingdom a restoration very close to the original purpose of God for all living creatures will be displayed through the restoration of the knowledge of God on this present earth, and the result of it will be manifested through all animals when, " 6 “ The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9 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." (Isa 11:6-9). We know that this above Scriptures speaks not about the New Heaven and the New Earth because in it there will be no more sea (Rev 21:1). So during the Millennium reign of Jesus and the saints, a partial fulfillment of the purpose of original creation of God will be implemented on this present earth by Jesus through His reigning saints from New Jerusalem (2 Tim 2:11-12; Rev 5:10; Rev 20:4).
But the original fulfillment of the purpose of all creation will be implemented in the New Earth in which all creation will be set free through the liberty exercised through the sons of God. We can know this through Isaiah's another later prophecy in which he has revealed this truth, " 17 “ For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.... 24 “ It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the LORD." (Isa 64:17-25). We know that the serpent began to crawl on the dust because of the curse upon it, but eating the dust of the ground has not yet been fulfilled by God (Genesis 3:14–15). So in the new earth this prophecy will be actually be fulfilled for the serpent who will forever eat the dust of the ground as a symbolic sign of how Jesus Christ has won the victory over Satan for ever, who will be then in the lake of fire tormented forever in it for eternity ahead (Rev 20:10). Then the knowledge of God will be fully restored in all animals that had gone wild in the old earth, so that none of the wild old furious and deadly creatures will ever hurt or destroy anyone in the New Earth forever under Jesus and all the sons of God who will rule with Him. Praise the Lord! GLORY TO GOD!
(5) Why it is important to think Biblically regarding all creations of God and get answers which will direct our life and values?
In the book of Job the man of God says, "7 “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; 8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. 9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, 10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?" (Job 12:7-10). We know that each animals, birds and the fish of the sea is so uniquely designed that the foolish mind that believed evolution through Darwin's lies were not able to answer how such intricate design could come unless a designer design it individually? Could out of a garbage a beautiful computer suddenly come forth if a bang happens inside? Only some stinking smell will further come when a bang happens and the garbage gets spread over a vast area. How could a earth that runs so fast without ever changing its speed start to run initially, unless the God who said that "He hangs the earth on nothing" (Job 26:7), set it and rolled it in to motion and also sustains it in the right speed? Nothing can run by itself unless some one sets it and looks after it.
God says, speak to the earth and research it all, the earth itself will tell of the Creator's design and his beautiful handiwork. When man conducts research upon the behavior, growth, eating habits and adaptation to environment of animals, birds and sea creatures, he sees a pattern set in each of them. A uniformity in every one of them and a unique blood flow and body design in each on them. Every one of them will loudly say and declare about the Creator's handiwork in their lives. Man's empty words of unbelief cannot destroy the finger print of God in the existence of all living creatures. God has guaranteed that all the birds of the air, fish of the sea, beasts of the earth and even the in-animated earth itself knows that they were uniquely made by the Creator God's design and handiwork. This is why a Psalmist spoke to all these above things and have exhorted them to praise the Lord (Psa 148:7-13). Even though these do not have mouth, their unique design praises God the Designer for creating it all. This above verse also have clearly revealed to us that as much as the life of mankind is in the hands of God, equally the life of every living thing is in the hands of God too. This is the reason when I first wrote in the article that God told that He will take my beloved Dog Steffi from its body, I believed what God said and I searched the Bible to find whether God does take the life of animals at His choice or else it just dissipates in to thin air when it dies. Praise God that I was able to find the truth of God. I have come to believe that when we believe according to the word of God about the life and death and future life of all the living creatures, our whole thinking will get realigned to shows respect towards all His living creatures on earth too because that is the way God shows His love, respect and values each one of them.
I believe when we search the word of God, God teaches us knowledge which is spiritually inline with His own mind. All other worldly knowledge may be a fact but cannot be the truth, but when God gives us conviction about His creation and His living creatures, we come to know the truth of what God created it to be (Psa 94:10). All of man's thought becomes a waste of time with no result about the truth when God is not directing it (Psa 94:11). God has promised to make a new covenant with the beasts of the field, birds of the air and the creeping things of the ground after Jesus comes to the earth for the Millennial rule, to protect them and make them lie down in safety (Hos 2:18). Thus no matter whether man agrees with God's thoughts or not, the truth is that what the Lord has already planned and have thought to execute will come to pass, finally His purpose shall stand at the end when all of man's purpose get flattened to the ground (Isa 14:24). This shows that God has plans for all the living creatures ahead because He is interested to bring the souls of it to its original state of the knowledge of God. So whether we had cat or dog or whatever pets, we can expect it to come alive with a better than before mind set filled with the knowledge of God in the New Heaven and New Earth during which God has planned to set all these living creatures in the liberty of their original body through the sons of God who are His saints. I mean if your dog just loved you and would try to chase away every new stranger in the old earth, you can expect the dog to welcome the stranger with much love in the New Earth because there will be no more thief to steal in the New Earth.
Because of the sinful condition of the present earth, the Bible says that true spiritual wisdom is hidden from the eyes of all living things, even the birds of the air are affected by it (Job 28:20-21). But it will all be restored back in the New Earth and all the birds of the air will have the wisdom of God displayed through them like we see here in a parrot saying, "Jesus loves me this I know,...," through its owner's training done in this present earth itself (Check out this awesome link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT2LAsxV4_g).
Also check out this awesome dog that was trained to understand to be in praying position until at the end of his owner's prayer in which when he says 'Amen', he gently goes out to eat food in the morning (Also check out this amazing link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pSIXoAgLicw).
These are some of the foretaste that God has left in the present earth itself to show how marvelous the whole species of living creatures will become in the New Earth.
Finally I would love to emphasize one very important truths in all of this article. God's word reveals the heart cry of God within him which says, "10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, 11 Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?’" (Job 35:10-14). The above verses reveals those important truth that I wanted to reveal, it is (1) Man is the highest love of God and He has created them to be the apex of all His entire creation. (2) The reason for His love towards all other creations is because He wanted mankind to enjoy it all and remember that God their Maker and Father has given it to them so that we could think about His love for us always. (3) Because man is the highest object of His love, God wants him to think why all animals and beasts cannot think of God when we alone have the thoughts about God? (4) God teaches humankind more knowledge and wisdom than animals, makes him wiser than all the birds, to make him think that he alone is in the image of God. (5) In the same way man is taught knowledge and made wise, God in the same way does it for the animals, birds and all living creatures in a lower level as it does not have its focus on Him. So it reveals that all living creatures have souls too and are taken care by God to be restored in His original will in the New Heaven and New Earth. (6) If man is redeemed from sin through Jesus Christ by him taking a good choice of accepting himself as a sinner in need of Savior, God will be very pleased with that person as He will soon restore the whole of creation in to its original glory through the redeemed men itself.
So the bottom line is the salvation of all men first and then the salvation of all creation will be done through them in the future.
I have read of some men of God who moved close with wild animals and by the glory of God upon their lives, these wild animals acted as through they were filled with the knowledge of God. It amazes me to hear that a foretaste of the future has been demonstrated already in our old earth itself.
For example saint Francis of Assisi was a remarkable person who was filled with the glory of God in such a way that God gave him a chance to preach to the birds the word of God and move with it closely there afterwards. Birds and Fish were also known to obey Francis. Perhaps the most famous story of St. Francis is when he lead a beastly wolf in to true repentance by God's grace, which transformed the behavior of the beast completely for the Glory of God! Read about this in detail in the following link : http://reachournation.blogspot.in/2009/06/assisi.html.
I have heard that when Sadhu Sundar Singh the great Indian saint was doing his ministry, he met wild animals on his journey that did not do anything to him because of the glory of God resting upon him.
Here is few excerpt from a book called "Sadhu Sundar Singh: Called of God" which says, "Sadhu Sundar Singh himself admits that very often he has gone without proper food, being reduced to eating the berries and produce of the jungle, and many a night he has been driven from the villages and been obliged to sleep under trees or in caves of the earth. The parts of India where the chief of his work has been done are no places for a comfortable life, so that it is not surprising that on more than one occasion the Sadhu has shared his miserable shelter with a snake or wild animal.
At a village in the district of Thoria the people behaved so badly to him that his nights were always spent in the jungle as long as he was working amongst them. On a particularly dark night, after a discouragingly hard day, the Sadhu found a cave where he spread his blanket and lay down to sleep. When daylight came it revealed the horrible spectacle of a large leopard still asleep close to him. The sight almost paralysed him with fear, but once outside the cave he could only reflect upon the great providence of God that had preserved him all the while.
Very early in his pilgrimages Sundar travelled through a number of villages, one of which was called Doliwala. The day had been a hard one, the march very long, and the Sadhu arrived utterly exhausted and badly in need of food and rest. Walking down the village street he asked again and again for some shelter where he could spend the night, but in every place when it was discovered that he was a Christian he was driven away. Heavy rain was falling and it was bitterly cold. Wearied almost to death, Sundar sought refuge in a ruined and abandoned hut of two rooms, without doors or windows. At least he was out of the rain, and thanking God he laid his blanket in the driest spot and went hungry to bed.
Soon he fell asleep, and did not wake until the chilly grey dawn came. In the half-darkness he saw a black object coiled up in his blanket close beside him, and looking closer he discovered that a huge cobra had also sought shelter and warmth beside him. Speedily he escaped from the hut, leaving the snake asleep, but on further thought he returned. Seizing a corner of the blanket he shook it free of the venomous reptile, which sluggishly wriggled off to the furthest corner of the room. Sundar then took his blanket with a feeling of great thankfulness that God had taken care of him in the hours of sleep, and spared him for further service."
So my conclusion to all of the above is that we must realize that the living creatures in all the earth will one day come alive when God sets it free on the New Earth through the sons of God for whom it was all initially created. All the living creatures will be saved one day because it knows no sin and are all blind towards God. The only thing is that because it was put under the dominion of Adam, the curse of sin that came upon the mankind, came also on the earth and all the living things that God made on it. The good news is that because new creation sons are constantly coming in to the kingdom of God and are nearly inching towards the day of completion which is the Rapture in which they all will rise up in their glorious bodies, through these new creation sons of God (2 Cor 5:21; Php 3:20-21), God will restore all the living creatures to reach safety and security during the 1000 years reign of Christ on this old earth, and the resurrection of all the living things that had lived from the first Adam to the end of the Millennium rule will happen at the end of all things in which they will all rise up in their restored bodies in the New Earth (Acts 3:21; Col 1:19-20; 1 Cor 15:26, 28). Praise the Lord! GLORY TO GOD!
Much Blessings....
Answer : Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name! This is a wonderful theme to search deep in to the word and understand what it says about the salvation of all creatures other than humans (Acts 17:11).
This theme is something which is close to my heart too. I will explain why it is in my answer. Actually this was a intriguing question in my heart and I asked my Dad about it. Years ago he said to me that animals have no soul at all and I was deeply disappointed within because we had a German Shepherd Dog named Steffi who was the fifth member in our family of four people. At that point of time our Steffi was getting old day by day and I was very concerned about it. Our Steffi is someone who made us laugh when we were sad, brightened our life when there was much days of darkness surrounding us, she silently accepted our tears without any judgment and would look in to our eyes as though she had understood how bad we felt and how sad she feels too, she would snuggle with us and would jump up to us to show her face up to ours which we would not encourage by raising our knees to its chest which will make her fall down and realize her mistake, and finally the greatest thing about Steffi is that she would forgive our mistakes so soon and would again love us unconditionally by coming to us wagging her tail showing her loyalty and trust in our leadership.
Many who come to our house were always amazed at the intelligence of Steffi which we really never taught it but I believe it has been graced by God. We always would talk to Steffi as like to a human being, and the wonderful thing is that it would understand what we really wanted to convey and act according to the need of the situation.
We as a family took care of Steffi as a fifth family member. Initially Dad did not like animals or any other pets, but when he saw me and my Brother John taking care of Steffi lovingly, and Steffi also lovingly wagging its tail and always standing as a body guard where ever Dad went when we were not in home during our college studies, then later he too learned to love and take care of it as we took care of Steffi. When Dad was not there in home, Steffi would immediately become the body guard of mum who will take care of her. Like this, she had hierarchy of master's to whom she automatically showed allegiance. This was a amazing quality she exhibited.
Steffi went through a operation for the removal of uterus which a dear Doctor did to bring her health up and heal her permanently of the skin problems she had due to chemical imbalance in her body. We took much effort and care for her to recover and after that she would climb down to do her daily chores and would climb up to the first floor where we are put up. Steffi had a great heart to do this for nearly 3 to four years even until it died. But at the end of her life only Dad and Mom were there to take care. One week at that point of time I visited our home a weekend and saw Steffi struggling to do poo and my heart broke.
Each day I would go to the open terrace above the place where we stayed in the Church to pray, Steffi would always come and lie down at the top until I would finish my prayer and then would come down. This time as I went up in the evening leaving Steffi down in my home as she was weak even to walk, a little later I was amazed to see her coming towards me on the open terrace by using all her strength to climb each step and find me at the top. Tears rolled out of my eyes as I saw the great heart of love in Steffi. Then as I prayed to God I was burdened to pray for Steffi to be taken up by Him and not suffer like this in her old age, then God said that within a week I will take her up. As I finished that week end and returned back to Bangalore where I am, the next Friday as I was praying to God, God brought a thought and a impression that Steffi was no more there. My mum fearing that we will be upset hearing the news she delayed the news for a day, and the next day one cousin who stayed and helped with us called me up and the first question I asked her was, "Has Steffi died?" She in a sorrowful voice slowly said, yes.
Then I heard the full news from other close sources who said that Dad really cried when he saw Steffi dead, he was never a emotional person as he was hardly seen crying, only a few times in our entire life time we saw him cry, one time when a dear elder of the Church who worked as a assistant pastor died suddenly of Cancer in short period of time, a few drop of tears I saw and then when his mother died, a few drop of tears I again saw. Hearing that really shocked me and after that because of this belief that animals have no souls, he was not able to react to the situation properly. But my dear mother took the body of Steffi and wrapped it in a white cloth and kept it ready for a burial of honor and dignity for what it has been to us all these years. Finally Dad agreed to pray and let it be buried within the Church premises. With the help of young boys who loved it, Mum finally guided them to dig a grave. Then nearly all the believers who lived around the Church heard the news and arrived to see Steffi get buried. They were all deeply sad about what happened.
In the whole real story I have told, few things we will take out as a question to be answered further in our article. (1) Is God concerned about the life of animals which He has created? (2) Do animals have souls within them? (3) If they have souls, will they be saved and come again to life? (4) What does the Bible say about the future life of all animals and birds? (5) Why it is important to think Biblically regarding all creations of God and get answers which will direct our life and values?
(1) Is God concerned about the life of animals which He has created?
God has said in His word, "A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." (Prov 12:10). In other words, the tender heart of a righteous man will regard the life of his animals automatically, but a wicked person's best thought and reaction towards seeing his suffering animal will be still nothing but a cruelty. Just ask yourself the question, if the righteous man who is saved by God from sin has a tender heart enough which regards the life of his animal, how much more the Creator of all animals and all other living beings will be concerned towards his creation.
Jesus said, "26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matt 6:26). This above Scripture says and shows that not only God is concerned when birds suffer but also He is the one who feeds them to make it live on the earth and not die due to lack of food (Job 38:41). God has claimed in His word that all the animals and birds of the forest belong to Him and He knows all of them personally and feeds them with food because they are valuable to Him (Psa 50:10-11; Luke 12:24). Every living creature actually waits for God to provide food for its survival, and He does provides for it all at the right time, even though it is not His perfect will for one to eat the other, but willingly God has allowed this result of sin to affect all the living creatures temporarily to achieve the eternal good of all the animals, birds and all living creatures (Psa 104:25-30; Job 38:39-41; Rom 8:28). Jesus in Matt 10:29 said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will." So we know from the above exposition that God is so concerned about all his living creatures from the time of its birth to its death and not one of them dies without His permission.
(2) Do animals have souls within them?
As I told you that I have been very confused whether animals and birds have souls until I found that it all has a soul individually within them as the Bible points out. When people say that animals and birds have no souls and so they dissipate in to thin air once they die, do not believe it.
What is a soul was the question that I asked myself first and what are its components was my sincere search? We know from the Bible that a soul has three main component within it, mind, emotion and will. A mind that thinks and decides from the database of knowledge (Prov 23:7), the emotional part of the soul feels for the decisions whether good or bad taken by it (Matt 26:38) and the will part of soul take the decision when the mind directs it (Matt 16:25-26; Luke 12:17-19).
At the time of the creation of man the Bible says, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [body], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [spirit]; and man became a living being [soul]." (Gen 2:7). The spirit is God conscious, the soul is self-conscious and the body is world conscious. When God took the dust body and blew within it the breath of life which is nothing but the creating and sustaining power of God's Spirit, it created a new spirit personality within us, out of which a living soul was formed which became conscious about the life within itself in relationship to the body which covered the spirit. When God takes the spirit out of man, the soul gets separated again from the body. Because when the soul was formed, it got intertwined with the immaterial spirit rather than the material body when the spirit entered the body with life. When the spirit is taken out of the body, the soul comes with the spirit leaving the body dead. So all the souls are immortal because it had life in itself by the decree of God from the beginning of his creation. This applies to both humans and all other living creatures alike (Psa 104:29-30).
If we raise the question, Where does it say in the Bible that animals have souls? The answer is, You will find it in the same place where it says that "man has a soul" -- that is nowhere. The Bible reveals that man... and animals... are souls -- they don't have one put within them by God. As we have discussed above when God's spirit was blown in to dust body, a individual spirit came in to existence "...and man became a living soul." It doesn't say that God put a soul into man and did not put that for animals and others creatures. As much as humans were created out of the dust of the ground, equally all the beasts of the fields, the birds of the air and all the sea creatures were made out of the dust of the ground too (Gen 2:2:7, 19, 20). The only difference was that, God breathed in to man individually the breath of life by the Spirit of God as He wanted to make them in His own spiritual image to connect back to Himself (Gen 1:26-27), the animals, birds and other living creatures were spoken in to existence without His personal involvement unlike humans (Psa 33:9; Rom 4:17; Heb 1:3).
We see that on the fifth day God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures [souls], and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens....the fifth day.” (Gen 1:20, 23). The English word 'creatures' specifically means 'souls, this is the first occurrence of nephesh in the whole Bible. Specifically the word 'nephesh' indicates life, when the Bible says "the moving creature that hath life (nephesh)"(Gen. 1:20), it points out that all sea creatures too have a soul individually. It is used interchangeably for birds, animals and humans in various areas of the Bible to mean many different variety and behavior of soul life.
On the sixth day God created both animals according to its kind and also humans in the image of God (Gen 1:24-31). But one thing that is common of all the living creatures is that it does have soul. Here is the word that proves it, "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life [living soul], I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so." (Gen 1:30). In the above verse God describes, all the animals and beasts of the earth, birds of the air and everything that that creeps on the earth as something that has living soul within them. In other words, the word 'life' in Hebrew is 'nephesh' which means 'a living soul'.
The soul in itself is immortal and never dies, whether it is the soul of an animal, bird or any sea creature has not been distinguished separately. This is the reason, God has revealed through apostle Paul that the whole creation of animals, birds and every sea creatures that has died and also living on earth is earnestly expecting, groaning and awaiting with increasing frequency of hope for the sons of God to arise upon the earth and redeem them again in to that immortal state of having a new eternal body in the new heaven and new earth (Rom 8:18-22; Isa 65:17-19, 24-25; Rev 21:1-4).
(3) If they have souls, will they be saved and come again to life?
We know that God created Adam in chapter one of the creation story and was placed on earth to have dominion over the fish of the sea, birds of the air, the cattle, all the earth and every creeping things that creep on the earth (Gen 1:26-30). Man was created in the likeness of the image of God which is a spiritual image which Adam replicated in fellowship with God and among themselves (2 Cor 3:18). God brought every beast of the field and birds of the air to Adam to see what he would call them in the second Chapter of the creation story of Genesis, from this we know that all animals were made to relate with Adam and be under his dominion and control (Gen 2:19). In other words, animals, birds and all living creatures were created to have fellowship with human beings and relate to them in a loving way. In it God has clearly expected that Adam by naming all of these creatures would come to understand that they were all made in their own image and that he himself is only person on earth in the very image of God uniquely distinguished apart from all that is under him (Gen 2:20; Rom 1:23). It exactly happened as God expected and God proceeded immediately to the next phase of creating woman out of man for intimacy of fellowship with his kind (Gen 2:21-22). Apostle Paul says in 1 Cor 15:39, "All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds." In other words, the flesh life of living creatures made by God on earth is of four types. Each of the four types of them are unique and don't mix with the other type of flesh, within this bottom three types there are umpteen number of its kind in all of the following flesh and because man was made in the very image of God, only one of its kind [i.e. man-kind] is made by God and decreed to spread in all the earth (Gen 1:21, 24, 25; Gen 1:27; Acts 17:26).
So from the above exposition, we can see that all living creatures are man focused and only man is God focused in their purpose of living. Jesus told, " 39 ...“For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” 40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains." (John 9:39-41). In the above verses we see that Jesus Himself assured that if somebody is spiritually blind toward God, they have no sin. If we apply this to the animals, birds and sea creatures that were created by God to be under the dominion of man, because they were created by God to be focused towards man in their very purpose of existence, they have no sin in their soul by their own choice, but all of them came under the curse of sin because they were all given under the in charge of Adam who disobeyed God's command and fell in to sin. All the whole earth and its living creatures were subject by God to curse in the hope that one day His sons of the new creation would rise up and remove all the curses upon these living creatures (Rom 5:12; 8:19-22; 2 Cor 5:17).
So sin of all men is falling short of the glory of God for which every one will go to hell fire if they do not search and find the God who has allowed it all, to save them by their own choice of faith in Him and His promises (Acts 17:26-27; Rev 20:11-15). Because we are born with a God focused spirit that is designed to have the consciousness of God unlike animals, we are expected to be saved from sin which we will understand through our very conscience within us which always acts as the lamp of God (Rom 3:23; 1:20-21; Prov 20:27).
One thing we should understand is that we can get a implicit clue from the Scriptures that the spirit of all living creatures might go in to the prison under the earth where it will be kept until the new heaven and earth will come in to existence. How can we know this for sure? We see the preacher in Ecclesiastes saying that when a person is dead, "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." (Eccl 12:7). In other words, the preacher is saying that once any living thing dies, its bodies which are made of dust return to the earth and the spirit within them is under the control of God and nobody including all demons can be able to touch it.
Then once again we see the preacher who wrote Ecclesiastes saying in his heart, ""18...Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” 19 For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. 21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?" (Eccl 3:18-21). In the above verses we see that physically apart from the spiritual image of God, man is like an animal. All come from the same place which is the dust and go to the same place (Gen 2:7, 19). But at the end, the preacher was skeptical to say, who knows that the spirit of the sons of men goes upward focused toward God to regain his lost image of God and the spirit of the animal goes downward focused after their death in the hope to regain their man focused life again through the redeemed sons of God, because of his lack of maturity in his spiritual life which made him doubt this fact which God wanted him to convey to His people.
We know that all the spirits of unsaved men is kept in a prison named as 'Hades' under the earth for the day of judgment (Luke 16:23). Even the souls of righteous men were kept on the other side of this prison until Jesus came to rescue and then took all of them to heaven once they were conformed to the image of God again in their spirit-man by hearing the gospel (Zec 9:11; Luke 16:22; Eph 4:8-10; 1 Peter 3:18-19; 4:6). So because the spirit of the animals has been assumed by the preacher to go down, it does have some solid truth in it. God might have kept the living creatures soul's down deep somewhere in the lower parts of the earth where it all must be groaning to God to send the redeemed sons of God to come and release them in to the freedom of the children of God in the new heavens and the new earth (Rom 8:22, 19, 20-21).
God has a salvation plan through the redeemed children of God who will be liberated with a glorious body to work with Jesus and reign for a thousand years in righteousness. For this thousand years the Church will stay within the New Jerusalem in the mansions that Jesus has prepared for them in his Father's house (John 14:2-3). At the end of this Millennium rule with Jesus, the old heaven and earth will pass away being burnt with fire, and the New Jerusalem will be lowered in to the New Heaven and New Earth and will be placed in the center of the new earth for which we as the Church and all the saints are waiting for (2 Peter 3:10-13; Isa 34:4; Rev 21:1-4).
By the way it is not just we redeemed saints who are looking for the new earth, as apostle Paul revealed that the whole creation is waiting for that day in which the redeemed saints and children of God will under the authority of God will make all these living creatures from the first day of creation until the end of the Millennial rule of Jesus to inhabit the new earth in the liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:22, 19, 20-21). God has promised to subdue all things unto Himself through his redeemed sons (Php 3:20-21). Like Jesus went in to the prison and took captivity captives and ascended, I believe all the sons of God will do the same and bring all living creatures of God in to the new earth for the glory of God by the liberty of the Spirit (Eph 4:8-10; Rom 8:19, 21; 2 Cor 3:17).
(4) What does the Bible say about the future life of all animals and birds?
The future life in the New Earth is bright for all the animals, birds and all living creatures because it will surely happen on day through the redeemed sons of God.
We read in the following Scripture, "Then they fell on their faces, and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh..."" (Num 16:22), which implies that our God is a God of all flesh which includes animals, birds and all sea creatures (1 Cor 15:39). Because all animals belong to God, when Jesus sacrificed Himself as "one sacrifice for sins forever" (Heb 10:12), it is an all inclusive salvation for all flesh, but that which is primarily for humans first and through them it is also included for animals, birds and all sea creatures too.
The above truth is proved in the following Scriptures which says, "4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:.... 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” (Luke 3:4, 6). All flesh includes the four types of flesh described by Paul the apostle and it is as follows, human flesh, birds flesh, animals flesh and sea creatures or fish flesh (1 Cor 15:39). This means one day all these different flesh will see the salvation of God in the New Earth.
Then David the beloved Psalmist who was very close to the heart of God wrote the following Psalm and exalted God saying, "Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O LORD, You preserve man and beast." (Psa 36:6). Here in the above verse the Psalmist when speaking about God's judgment, he says that God preserves both man and beast. In other words, God is as concerned about saving beasts from the curse and effect of sin as much as He has saved man from sin and judgment for sin.
We see the prophet Daniel Prophesied the following to the King Nebuchadnezzar saying, "37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold." (Dan 2:37-38). Notice in the above prophecy Daniel the prophet says to the king, that the God of heaven has given him a kingdom, power, strength, and glory wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. In other words, when God sees the earth from heaven He is seeing humans first but then under their control he also sees the animals and birds and all living creatures put under him and loves them all to care for all of them together with humans who are His highest love (Luke 12:24). O what a God we have!!! May God open the eyes of all the Christian saints who have not yet believed the goodness of God towards all His living creatures too.
Through Isaiah the prophet God has revealed that in the Millennium kingdom a restoration very close to the original purpose of God for all living creatures will be displayed through the restoration of the knowledge of God on this present earth, and the result of it will be manifested through all animals when, " 6 “ The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9 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." (Isa 11:6-9). We know that this above Scriptures speaks not about the New Heaven and the New Earth because in it there will be no more sea (Rev 21:1). So during the Millennium reign of Jesus and the saints, a partial fulfillment of the purpose of original creation of God will be implemented on this present earth by Jesus through His reigning saints from New Jerusalem (2 Tim 2:11-12; Rev 5:10; Rev 20:4).
But the original fulfillment of the purpose of all creation will be implemented in the New Earth in which all creation will be set free through the liberty exercised through the sons of God. We can know this through Isaiah's another later prophecy in which he has revealed this truth, " 17 “ For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.... 24 “ It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the LORD." (Isa 64:17-25). We know that the serpent began to crawl on the dust because of the curse upon it, but eating the dust of the ground has not yet been fulfilled by God (Genesis 3:14–15). So in the new earth this prophecy will be actually be fulfilled for the serpent who will forever eat the dust of the ground as a symbolic sign of how Jesus Christ has won the victory over Satan for ever, who will be then in the lake of fire tormented forever in it for eternity ahead (Rev 20:10). Then the knowledge of God will be fully restored in all animals that had gone wild in the old earth, so that none of the wild old furious and deadly creatures will ever hurt or destroy anyone in the New Earth forever under Jesus and all the sons of God who will rule with Him. Praise the Lord! GLORY TO GOD!
(5) Why it is important to think Biblically regarding all creations of God and get answers which will direct our life and values?
In the book of Job the man of God says, "7 “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; 8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. 9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, 10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?" (Job 12:7-10). We know that each animals, birds and the fish of the sea is so uniquely designed that the foolish mind that believed evolution through Darwin's lies were not able to answer how such intricate design could come unless a designer design it individually? Could out of a garbage a beautiful computer suddenly come forth if a bang happens inside? Only some stinking smell will further come when a bang happens and the garbage gets spread over a vast area. How could a earth that runs so fast without ever changing its speed start to run initially, unless the God who said that "He hangs the earth on nothing" (Job 26:7), set it and rolled it in to motion and also sustains it in the right speed? Nothing can run by itself unless some one sets it and looks after it.
God says, speak to the earth and research it all, the earth itself will tell of the Creator's design and his beautiful handiwork. When man conducts research upon the behavior, growth, eating habits and adaptation to environment of animals, birds and sea creatures, he sees a pattern set in each of them. A uniformity in every one of them and a unique blood flow and body design in each on them. Every one of them will loudly say and declare about the Creator's handiwork in their lives. Man's empty words of unbelief cannot destroy the finger print of God in the existence of all living creatures. God has guaranteed that all the birds of the air, fish of the sea, beasts of the earth and even the in-animated earth itself knows that they were uniquely made by the Creator God's design and handiwork. This is why a Psalmist spoke to all these above things and have exhorted them to praise the Lord (Psa 148:7-13). Even though these do not have mouth, their unique design praises God the Designer for creating it all. This above verse also have clearly revealed to us that as much as the life of mankind is in the hands of God, equally the life of every living thing is in the hands of God too. This is the reason when I first wrote in the article that God told that He will take my beloved Dog Steffi from its body, I believed what God said and I searched the Bible to find whether God does take the life of animals at His choice or else it just dissipates in to thin air when it dies. Praise God that I was able to find the truth of God. I have come to believe that when we believe according to the word of God about the life and death and future life of all the living creatures, our whole thinking will get realigned to shows respect towards all His living creatures on earth too because that is the way God shows His love, respect and values each one of them.
I believe when we search the word of God, God teaches us knowledge which is spiritually inline with His own mind. All other worldly knowledge may be a fact but cannot be the truth, but when God gives us conviction about His creation and His living creatures, we come to know the truth of what God created it to be (Psa 94:10). All of man's thought becomes a waste of time with no result about the truth when God is not directing it (Psa 94:11). God has promised to make a new covenant with the beasts of the field, birds of the air and the creeping things of the ground after Jesus comes to the earth for the Millennial rule, to protect them and make them lie down in safety (Hos 2:18). Thus no matter whether man agrees with God's thoughts or not, the truth is that what the Lord has already planned and have thought to execute will come to pass, finally His purpose shall stand at the end when all of man's purpose get flattened to the ground (Isa 14:24). This shows that God has plans for all the living creatures ahead because He is interested to bring the souls of it to its original state of the knowledge of God. So whether we had cat or dog or whatever pets, we can expect it to come alive with a better than before mind set filled with the knowledge of God in the New Heaven and New Earth during which God has planned to set all these living creatures in the liberty of their original body through the sons of God who are His saints. I mean if your dog just loved you and would try to chase away every new stranger in the old earth, you can expect the dog to welcome the stranger with much love in the New Earth because there will be no more thief to steal in the New Earth.
Because of the sinful condition of the present earth, the Bible says that true spiritual wisdom is hidden from the eyes of all living things, even the birds of the air are affected by it (Job 28:20-21). But it will all be restored back in the New Earth and all the birds of the air will have the wisdom of God displayed through them like we see here in a parrot saying, "Jesus loves me this I know,...," through its owner's training done in this present earth itself (Check out this awesome link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT2LAsxV4_g).
Also check out this awesome dog that was trained to understand to be in praying position until at the end of his owner's prayer in which when he says 'Amen', he gently goes out to eat food in the morning (Also check out this amazing link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pSIXoAgLicw).
These are some of the foretaste that God has left in the present earth itself to show how marvelous the whole species of living creatures will become in the New Earth.
Finally I would love to emphasize one very important truths in all of this article. God's word reveals the heart cry of God within him which says, "10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, 11 Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?’" (Job 35:10-14). The above verses reveals those important truth that I wanted to reveal, it is (1) Man is the highest love of God and He has created them to be the apex of all His entire creation. (2) The reason for His love towards all other creations is because He wanted mankind to enjoy it all and remember that God their Maker and Father has given it to them so that we could think about His love for us always. (3) Because man is the highest object of His love, God wants him to think why all animals and beasts cannot think of God when we alone have the thoughts about God? (4) God teaches humankind more knowledge and wisdom than animals, makes him wiser than all the birds, to make him think that he alone is in the image of God. (5) In the same way man is taught knowledge and made wise, God in the same way does it for the animals, birds and all living creatures in a lower level as it does not have its focus on Him. So it reveals that all living creatures have souls too and are taken care by God to be restored in His original will in the New Heaven and New Earth. (6) If man is redeemed from sin through Jesus Christ by him taking a good choice of accepting himself as a sinner in need of Savior, God will be very pleased with that person as He will soon restore the whole of creation in to its original glory through the redeemed men itself.
So the bottom line is the salvation of all men first and then the salvation of all creation will be done through them in the future.
I have read of some men of God who moved close with wild animals and by the glory of God upon their lives, these wild animals acted as through they were filled with the knowledge of God. It amazes me to hear that a foretaste of the future has been demonstrated already in our old earth itself.
For example saint Francis of Assisi was a remarkable person who was filled with the glory of God in such a way that God gave him a chance to preach to the birds the word of God and move with it closely there afterwards. Birds and Fish were also known to obey Francis. Perhaps the most famous story of St. Francis is when he lead a beastly wolf in to true repentance by God's grace, which transformed the behavior of the beast completely for the Glory of God! Read about this in detail in the following link : http://reachournation.blogspot.in/2009/06/assisi.html.
I have heard that when Sadhu Sundar Singh the great Indian saint was doing his ministry, he met wild animals on his journey that did not do anything to him because of the glory of God resting upon him.
Here is few excerpt from a book called "Sadhu Sundar Singh: Called of God" which says, "Sadhu Sundar Singh himself admits that very often he has gone without proper food, being reduced to eating the berries and produce of the jungle, and many a night he has been driven from the villages and been obliged to sleep under trees or in caves of the earth. The parts of India where the chief of his work has been done are no places for a comfortable life, so that it is not surprising that on more than one occasion the Sadhu has shared his miserable shelter with a snake or wild animal.
At a village in the district of Thoria the people behaved so badly to him that his nights were always spent in the jungle as long as he was working amongst them. On a particularly dark night, after a discouragingly hard day, the Sadhu found a cave where he spread his blanket and lay down to sleep. When daylight came it revealed the horrible spectacle of a large leopard still asleep close to him. The sight almost paralysed him with fear, but once outside the cave he could only reflect upon the great providence of God that had preserved him all the while.
Very early in his pilgrimages Sundar travelled through a number of villages, one of which was called Doliwala. The day had been a hard one, the march very long, and the Sadhu arrived utterly exhausted and badly in need of food and rest. Walking down the village street he asked again and again for some shelter where he could spend the night, but in every place when it was discovered that he was a Christian he was driven away. Heavy rain was falling and it was bitterly cold. Wearied almost to death, Sundar sought refuge in a ruined and abandoned hut of two rooms, without doors or windows. At least he was out of the rain, and thanking God he laid his blanket in the driest spot and went hungry to bed.
Soon he fell asleep, and did not wake until the chilly grey dawn came. In the half-darkness he saw a black object coiled up in his blanket close beside him, and looking closer he discovered that a huge cobra had also sought shelter and warmth beside him. Speedily he escaped from the hut, leaving the snake asleep, but on further thought he returned. Seizing a corner of the blanket he shook it free of the venomous reptile, which sluggishly wriggled off to the furthest corner of the room. Sundar then took his blanket with a feeling of great thankfulness that God had taken care of him in the hours of sleep, and spared him for further service."
So my conclusion to all of the above is that we must realize that the living creatures in all the earth will one day come alive when God sets it free on the New Earth through the sons of God for whom it was all initially created. All the living creatures will be saved one day because it knows no sin and are all blind towards God. The only thing is that because it was put under the dominion of Adam, the curse of sin that came upon the mankind, came also on the earth and all the living things that God made on it. The good news is that because new creation sons are constantly coming in to the kingdom of God and are nearly inching towards the day of completion which is the Rapture in which they all will rise up in their glorious bodies, through these new creation sons of God (2 Cor 5:21; Php 3:20-21), God will restore all the living creatures to reach safety and security during the 1000 years reign of Christ on this old earth, and the resurrection of all the living things that had lived from the first Adam to the end of the Millennium rule will happen at the end of all things in which they will all rise up in their restored bodies in the New Earth (Acts 3:21; Col 1:19-20; 1 Cor 15:26, 28). Praise the Lord! GLORY TO GOD!
Much Blessings....
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