My Constant Companion (Day 2, from Letters to a Friend)

             

            Without realizing it I found myself once again contemplating the unanswered question, “Will we see our pet’s in heaven?”

            The Word of God mentions in several scriptures about animals being in heaven but there is one, in particular, I would like to share with you from the book of Isaiah 11:6-9, it speaks of the Messiah’s reign in which complete harmony will exist between animals and man and all of creation will be restored under His rule. Now I grant you this is speaking of the New Jerusalem, “But are their animals in heaven now?” The answer is, yes, Revelation 19:14 states that the armies of heaven will follow Christ on white horses when He returns. Now mind you I don’t think for a minute that God will send His angels to round up all the white horses on earth and bring them to heaven only to send them back again with His army on their backs, so they must already be there, wouldn’t you agree. But as for animals going to heaven after they die, I have not found where the Bible specifically addresses this question.

I love to do research and over the years I have spent many hours poring over research books, commentaries, and concordances searching for scriptures to help me find an answer. I have read article after article and asked several Pastors this question and I hate to admit it, but the majority of my findings say “no,” the reason being that animals do not have a soul, therefore, there is no salvation, and no one can enter heaven unless they are saved. In order to answer the question “Will we see our pets in heaven,” I had to find the answer to more questions. Do animals have a soul, and is salvation extended to the animals?

            When I had my store we got a book titled Sparkling Gems by Rick Renner, it’s a Greek word study in the format of a yearly devotional. Well after, once again, searching the scriptures and still not finding answers I turned to Rick Renner’s book, only this time I based my search on the word “soul” which led me to 1 Peter 2:11 in the content of this text Rick Renner wrote, “The word “soul” is the Greek word psyche, which describes a person’s mind, will, and emotions.” Again, animals were not mentioned so I began to break my search down to the three aspects of the soul individually.

            The mind is the seat of your intellect, memory, and reasoning, it’s where we form our likes and our dislikes, the mind makes up our thought process. Now I have a question for you, have you ever seen your pet display any of these qualities? I know I certainly have. My husband trained hunting dogs as well as showed them in Field Trials. He was strict in his discipline and generous with his praise. They could track a duck across the water and follow a three-day-old blood trail of a deer. My husband was a good trainer, but it was the dog’s intelligence and thought process that enabled them to do the things they were taught that made them great hunting dogs. As I stated before Avery was rescued from an abusive home, but years after she came to live with us, if she was around when my husband removed his belt from his jeans at night, she would instantly drop flat on the floor and begin to shake from the memory of her abuse. THE MIND