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TechnoratiThe question arises naturally for anyone who has suffered the loss of a beloved pet: is there any chance that we’ll see our Prince (or Patches, or Polly) again in heaven?
In order to answer the question we shall first have to redefine it. And we do that by challenging the assumption that our destination after death is in an ethereal heaven. As has often been observed, this other-worldly reading of scripture owes more to non-Christian Greek thinking than to anything in the Bible.
Instead, the consistent biblical teaching is that the God who created the heavens and earth is creating a new heavens and earth (Isa. 65:17; 2 Pe. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-3). Thus, our destiny is not simply to exist in an ethereal heaven, reclining on powder pink clouds with harp in hand. Rather, our hope is to be resurrected in corporeal bodies (like that of Jesus) and to live in a renewed and perfected creation. Presumably this is good news for our pets who, like us, were created as material beings to live in a material world.
This leads us immediately on to our next point. It is important to understand that the new heavens and earth should not be understood as the replacement of the present heavens and earth. Rather, we should interpret the phrase as a description of God delivering the present heaven and earth from its corrupted state. Paul could not be clearer on the matter in Romans 8:19-21:
“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (TNIV)
In this passage, creation is awaiting its own deliverance as surely as are we. And thus creation is to be liberated from its bondage as surely as will we. When scripture speaks of our new resurrection bodies, theologians understand this to be a reference to our present bodies perfected. Likewise when we read of the new heavens and earth, the reference should be interpreted as the present heavens and earth being delivered from bondage into perfection.
But wait! Didn’t Jesus die only for people? So how can we talk of animals in the new creation?
The assumption is actually false. In fact, we read in Colossians 1:19-20: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Christ], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (TNIV) The Greek word “pas”, translated as “all things” could mean either every single thing or examples of every type of thing. While the context clearly suggests the former, under either interpretation we should expect to see animals reconciled to God as surely as human beings and the creation itself.
Of course the reconciliation of animals is very different from the reconciliation of human beings since animals are not moral agents. Nonetheless, Isaiah provides a couple suggestive glimpses of what animal reconciliation in the new creation will look like, and it includes the cessation of predation and carnivory (Isaiah 11:6, 65:25).
Thus far we have seen that God is saving his world as surely as he is saving the people in it. And this means that both creation and animals are being reconciled to God and one another. But still the question remains: can we reasonably hope to see Prince, Patches or Polly again?
Perhaps the best answer is to ask: why wouldn’t we see them again? It is worth noting that our typical problem when contemplating the goodness of God and the perfection of the new heavens and earth lies with our lack of imagination: we don’t think big enough.
At this point we would do well to remember God’s promise: “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). While the full understanding of that statement surely transcends our wildest imagination, it seems to me a most reasonable hope that it could include a restored Prince chewing on his rawhide bone, a healed Patches playing with her favorite toy mouse, and a renewed Polly singing for the glory of God.
Randal Rauser is associate professor of historical theology at Taylor Seminary, Edmonton, Canada and was granted Taylor's first annual teaching award for Outstanding Service to Students in 2005.
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