CLARIFICATION
Let's begin with the obvious: The bible is not overtly vocal on the matter of whether our beloved pets will be restored to us in heaven or not.
In fact, the bible is not overtly and specifically vocal on a lot of issues we face.
For instance, the bible doesn't indicate that collecting 20 mint condition classic cars is a sin. If collected in an innocent manner, all is good. The bible does speak about idolatry, greed, and covetousness, and if that collection is gathered because of those or other sinful vices (lying, cheating, etc), then it is sinful.
Or what does the bible have to say about blood transfusions or organ replacement from another person, animal, or mechanical device? If anything, it has nothing to say with clarity.
Biblical scripture, along with the Holy Spirit, is the guide for knowing God, how to follow Him, how to live righteously, and how to receive eternal life with Him through Jesus Christ. That is His primary and greatest message to us. That is what He prioritizes for us and what we should prioritize for ourselves also.
But it does address to degrees other common issues that we face in life such as work, marriage, raising children, serving others, discipleship, and more.
So with various topics that the bible doesn’t directly address, we have to carefully infer a resolution from what it does teach us based on God's word, character, promises, nature, and principles.
Pets in heaven is one of those.
That being put out there first and foremost, let's look at some passages that may hint at an answer.
DISCLAIMER
As a tender-hearted animal-lover, I am writing this with complete bias from the affirmative, but I write it from a studied and considered position. If you can't relate to this issue but are willing to continue reading, try considering the topic from the opposing view. Ask yourself diagnostic questions such as: does scripture contradict this, is this consistent with God’s character and His nature, is this logically coherent, etc.
[Also see my article Creation, Suffering, Compassion, Restoration for a slightly complimentary issue]
POINT 1: COVENANTS
Students of the bible are familiar with the various covenants of God. They are:
Adamic Covenant - established with mankind at Creation. Noahic Covenant - established after the Great Flood.
Abrahamic Covenant - established with Abraham for a multitude of offspring, land, and blessing to all nations.
Mosaic Covenant - established with Israel to be God's chosen people and to obey His commandments.
Davidic Covenant - established with David that his throne would never end.
Mosaic Covenant - established with Israel to be God's chosen people and to obey His commandments.
Davidic Covenant - established with David that his throne would never end.
New Covenant - established by Jesus through His atoning death and resurrection.
The covenant I want to highlight is the Noahic covenant. There is a portion of the following scripture that many people read right across and are completely unaware of - including some of my friends that are long-time Christians. Several years ago, it leapt off the page at me during one of my annual reading through the bible.
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
[Genesis 9:8-17]
Did you catch it?
God specifies that along with Noah and his family, He was establishing this everlasting covenant with "every living creature", "every beast of the earth", and "all flesh". "It is for every beast of the earth." And it was for all future generations of mankind and animals.
Every other covenant God established was made strictly between Him and mankind with the cumulative goal leading to mankind's redemption from sin. It started with the promise of a "seed of the woman" crushing the head of the serpent in the Adamic covenant and culminates with the New covenant that Jesus ushered in.
Don't misunderstand, the Noahic covenant was also in that thread of the redemption plan. The promised "seed" (Jesus Christ) would now also be a descendent of Noah. But the Noahic covenant was made between God and man .... and animals. He didn't include the plants; He didn't include the earth itself (Genesis 9:13 indicates the location of the sign of the covenant, the bow, being between God and the earth); He made the covenant with both men and animals. God made man in His own image, but He must have esteem for animals in order to bring them into a covenant with Him.
Humans and animals are a different yet similar life apart from the rest of creation. They have a special connection with one another that no other thing in creation shares. They both are attributed with "the breath of life".
Man was created in the image of God [Genesis 1:27]. Just as man was made a little lower than the angels [Psalm 8:4-6], is it unreasonable that these animals with "the breath of life" like man were made a little lower than man?
[Note: Interestingly, it seems that the "breath of life" in scripture is used in reference for the earth (nonaquatic) dwelling creatures, and we (land creatures and mankind) were created on the same day.]
All mankind, whether saved by grace through their faith in Jesus or lost and cast out for their rejection of Jesus, will exist throughout eternity in one of two places.
Animals are not recipients of salvation through Jesus Christ. Salvation is for mankind only for the rebellion and sin dating back to Adam. That sin however affected and disrupted all of creation.
So what about the animals with "the breath of life" that God made covenant with? In a few verses, the original Hebrew words vary for "the breath of life". But when Genesis 6:17 says that everything with "the breath of life" will be destroyed, and Genesis 9:17 says He established the covenant with "all flesh", those unquestionably lump mankind and animals into the same category.
Additionally, after stating they have the same breath and physically die the same, Solomon refers to man and animals as both having spirits in Ecclesiastes 3:21 using the same Hebrew word ruah.
Who is life as well as the author of life? Obviously, God. This is true of both physical and spiritual life. Life cannot come from non-life. That is a hot topic among creation vs evolution debate points that naturalists and materialists cannot even come close to answering. Can that "breath of life" that was given by God the Life-Giver simply be made to cease existing while mankind with "breath of life" exists eternally?
[Note of interest: As a picture of salvation, Christians have viewed the Great Flood of God's judgment and wrath in Noah's time as a foreshadowing of God's ultimate wrath and judgment coming at the end of time when God judges all people. The ark is an illustration of salvation from that judgment. God told Noah His singular plan for Noah to be saved. There was no alternative; if Noah didn't follow God's plan he would perish too. Noah believed and obeyed. Noah and his family were safely inside the ark unable to save themselves, and God Himself closed the door sealing them and saving them. With that though, I haven't heard anyone using that analogy mention the animals that were also inside that ark when God sealed it.]
In later scripture, for the sake of the safety of men, God speaks of making a covenant directly with animals alone:
And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.
[Hosea 2:18]
It uses the same Hebrew word of berith for covenant which is different than the word for command which is tzavah. It would seem God didn't just command the animals to be at peace with man or circumstantially send angels to shut the animals' mouths as He did with Daniel [Daniel 6:22].
Clearly, God regards animals with some sort of special status that is acknowledged in His entering covenant with them with or without mankind.
God does not do anything frivolously or anything ridiculous. God does not do anything nonsensical. God does not do anything meaningless.
That God would enter covenants with animals at all, by itself, is a major consideration.
POINT 2: A PARABLE
In 2 Samuel 12, a story is recorded as being told to king David by the prophet Nathan. In the story, Nathan tells of two men: one wealthy and one poor. The wealthy man had very many flocks of sheep. The poor man had one little ewe lamb. Nathan details the relationship between the poor man and his lamb:
But the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.
[2 Samuel 12:3]
People with close attachments to their pets even today will admit how their pets are like members of the family. They (we) will speak about their personalities, their likes and dislikes, and their emotions and moods. We've all had pets that display love and hate, happiness and sadness, excitement and boredom, affection and fear, loyalty and protectiveness, favoritism and indifference, joy and depression, etc. These are genuine emotions and traits unlike the mimicry of Artificial Intelligence; and they are not simply anthropomorphism (the attribution of emotions/traits) as they are plainly experiential.
Ultimately, Nathan's story concludes with the wealthy man taking the poor man's lamb to hold a feast for a visiting friend rather than draw an animal from his own "very many flocks". David responded with extreme anger and declared the wealthy man deserved death and for him to payback the poor man fourfold. (If you aren't familiar with the story, read the chapter to understand Nathan's point.)
It makes perfect sense for Nathan to approach David with a story involving a sheep. David had been a shepherd and that is reflected in many of his psalms. However, the interesting point is how Nathan presented the sheep. He noted it ate of the man's food and even drank from his cup, it grew up with him and his children, it lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter.
Figurative? Obviously, since the point of the story was David's illicit relationship with Bathsheba and having her husband, Uriah, sent to his death. But that doesn’t mean it was an absurd concept to the speaker, the hearer, the author, or the readers.
Wouldn't the message and effect of the story without including the intimate bond with the lamb be enough to fully display the villainy of the wealthy man for taking the poor man's only lamb when he had so many of his own to choose from? The heinous act alone would drive a person to rage at the wealthy man’s offense. The intentional inclusion of the lamb being "like a daughter" had specific relational intent.
This seems to indicate that God understands that there can develop a relational bond of familial friendship between people and animals.
POINT 3: A PROVERB
The wisest man to have lived, king Solomon, wrote in his book of Proverbs:
Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.
[Proverbs 12:10]
There is a vast difference between regard and disregard.
Cambridge Dictionary defines regard as:
1. respect or admiration for someone or something
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines regard as:
2. a feeling of respect and affection, the worth or estimation in which something or someone is held
Merriam-Webster defines disregard as:
1. to pay no attention to, treat as unworthy of regard or notice
This indicates some level of intrinsic value to animals whether it is because of how God gave them life, of God's initial command to mankind to rule over animals, or simply because of the individual's necessity of the animal (oxen for tilling, sheep for wool, goats for milk, etc). Whatever the unspoken reason or reasons, they have value.
Returning to Point 1 though, they have enough value for God Almighty to regard them and enter a covenant with them.
POINT 4: RESTORATION
These animals with “the breath of life” are obviously a part of creation, and we are told that all creation longs for a better day.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
[Romans 8:19-23]
Creation, animals included, was unwillingly subjected to fallenness and futility because of mankind falling into sin. The fallenness of man disrupted all of creation. At the end of days, Jesus will set all things right and restore all things. The above passage states that "creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain freedom of the glory of the children of God."
Let that sink in. Creation is groaning, and longing for its freedom just as we (Christians) also groan and wait.
From this passage we know that creation will be restored and freed. As creation fell into corruption at the fall of man, creation will be restored and obtain the "freedom of the glory of the children of God" at the end of days.
POINT 5: A HINT
In fact, scripture tells us in many places that creation will be restored.
Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
[Acts 3:19-21]
Here, Luke writes that all things are to be restored. What does that "all things" exactly mean? Though scripture states specifically that the old heaven and the old earth will have "passed away" and replaced with new, “all things” being restored doesn't imply re-creation.
Merriam-Webster defines restoration as:
1. the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition.
Jesus' emphasis in Revelation 21:5 [see Point 8] is not on making new things, but making old things new again.
POINT 6: A PROMISE
Then there is a promise from a psalm of king David. This verse is one my sister pointed me to several years ago when I brought these former points up to her in discussion.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
[Psalm 37:4]
David's words of that psalm fit very well with a promise from Jesus Himself:
"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"
[Matthew 7:11]
I can find nothing in scripture that directly or indirectly speaks about that promise being limited to only the here and now of this existence on this earth. If something is true about God's nature now, it is true about His nature eternally because He is eternally unchanging.
POINT 7: GOOD COMPANY
If you (too) follow this hope of pets being restored to us in heaven even loosely, you (we) are not alone. We stand in great company such as:
Randy Alcorn, Christian author and pastor, who addresses pets in heaven in his book, Heaven.
C. S. Lewis, Christian author and apologist, who addresses this issue in his book The Problem of Pain.
Joni Earekson Tada, Christian author and speaker, who states in her book, Heaven: Your Real Home, "If God brings our pets back to life, it wouldn't surprise me. It would be just like Him. It would be totally in keeping with His generous character ... Exorbitant. Excessive. Extravagant in grace after grace."
Billy Graham, Christian evangelist, when asked of the subject, answered, "I think God will have prepared everything for our perfect happiness. If it takes my dog being there [in Heaven], I believe he will be there."
Hanke Hanegraaff, Christian author and "Bible Answer Man", when asked, answered, "First, the Garden of Eden was populated by animals, thus there is a precedent for believing that Eden restored will also be populated by animals. Furthermore, the Scriptures –from first to last– suggest that animals have souls. Both Moses in Genesis and John in Revelation communicate that the Creator endowed animals with souls (see Gen. 1:20, 24; Rev. 8:9) Throughout the history of the church, the classic understanding of living things has included the doctrine that animals, as well as humans, have souls."
Martin Luther, Christian reformer, stated and wrote several comments confirming his belief about pets, including his dog Tolpel, being in heaven.
And many, many more people.
POINT 8: HEAVEN WILL BE HEAVEN
Obviously, if this point is believed in error, once we stand in the presence of God, it will not matter.
Heaven will be perfect with or without our furry friends because we'll be before God Himself in His full glory and majesty. We will be so awed and connected with Him that any decision He’s made on whether to restore our beloved pets to us or not will be accepted by us without question or disappointment as His perfect will.
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind."
[Isaiah 65:17]
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
[Revelation 21:4-5]
CONCLUSION
Again, I admit coming into this discussion with a bias.
Do I believe it is within the purview of God's character and nature to restore pets to His children in the new heaven and new earth? Absolutely, as presented above.
Can I be dogmatic about this belief? No, I can't. I can hold it strongly and defend the position, but I can’t be dogmatic.
Could I be wrong? That is certainly a possibility. This falls into a category of faith that is tertiary at its best. It neither touches on the doctrine of salvation, nor should it break Christian fellowship.
So, I am convinced in my heart and I believe.
But, as it is written [in Isaiah 64:4], “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”
[1 Corinthians 2:9]
If I can't even imagine what God has prepared for those who love Him, something like restoring beloved animals to His children's care, which I can imagine and believe is within His character, is not automatically dismissible without scripture outright dismissing it.
We can't fathom the goodness and graciousness of God. To repeat what I said at the beginning of this article, what He doesn't directly tell us we must infer from what He does tell us. I hope I have outlined a convincing foundation for support or, at least, presented a case for understanding an opposing view.
Since the perfect, eternal, holy, loving, just, gracious, merciful, faithful, omnipotent, omniscient, and sovereign Creator God regarded animals worthy to enter a covenant with them, the subject should be approached with openness and grace rather than ridicule.
Randy Alcorn writes in his book, Heaven:
That's why the question of whether pets will be in Heaven is not, as some assume, stupid. Animals aren't nearly as valuable as people, but God is their Maker and has touched many people's lives through them. It would be simple for Him to re-create a pet in Heaven if He wants to. He's the giver of all good gifts, not the taker of them. If it would please us to have a pet restored to the New Earth, that may be sufficient reason.
So I, like others, hold hope and belief that in God's kingdom as I serve and worship Him in every manner I am able, I will also have my beloved fur-buddies restored to me for my joy and for His glory - including my latest little buddy I lost 10/07/2024:
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