Will Jesus Resurrect Our Pets? aka, Does Jesus Love Animals?
If you don't know already, there's a small, albeit friendly, debate amongst Christians concerning animals, primarily our pets. The question is, "When Jesus Returns and Resurrects us, will He do the same for animals/our pets?" The Bible doesn't explicitly say yes or no, so we'll have to read between the lines to try and figure it out. Being upfront, I am on the side that says animals will be Resurrected. Normally, I would say, "There are good arguments on both sides." Except, I don't think there are good arguments saying animals won't be Resurrected. So, I'll offer my arguments, and then offer counterarguments in anticipation of what the other side would say (a prolepsis). Also, I will be using the term Resurrection, and not "Heaven," as the Bible isn't concerned with life after death but rather with life after life after death when Jesus brings Heaven down to Earth (a topic in itself for another post). So, let's dive in!
1) The Grand Design:
The Bible, at its core, is not book of rules for how to live your life. Instead, it's a Story. And, that Story goes something like this: A beautiful Master Artist excitingly and Lovingly made a beautiful Work of Art called "Creation." As He painted and sculpted each part of it, He called it good in its own right. He painted the skies and clouds and seas, and called them good on their own. He placed a bright, warm, life-giving solar bulb in the sky named Sun and made for him a sister created out of cool rock named Moon. Then, He gave to them friends named Stars. All of these, in their own right, He made for Himself, excitedly and joyfully with Love in His heart for them, as any artist passionate about their work is wont to do. And He called them good all by themselves, and in relation to the skies and the waters.
Next, He swirled the air together to form animals called birds, and the seas together to make those who dwell in the deep. He smiled and called them good all by themselves, and in relation to everything else He had made. Then, He pulled the Earth herself up from the deep, so that the birds could have a place of rest and where they could mate. After this, He worked to sculpt unique vegetation for His own delight, and for the nourishment and rest of the birds. Some He called trees; The birds, He thought, will especially like these. Others he made to be lower to the ground and He named these flowers. I'll give the Earth a beautiful head of hair, and with it she'll reflect My soft and tender side, and the small birds that eat from them will admire me for them. Soon after, He planted crops to nourish the birds and help them to enjoy their stomachs. And so He called the Earth and her plants beautiful, and good all by herself, but also in relation to all else He had made.
But, something was missing, the birds had no friends like their brother Sun, or their sister Moon, had in the Stars. And so, from Earth the Artist made various and unique kinds of animals to add more diversity, complexity, and beauty to Earth, but also to give siblings and friends to the birds. He saw the animals He carved out of Earth, some were two legged, some were four leg, some had a thousand legs and others had no legs at all! All of this, He called good, on its own and in relation to everything else He had made. He looked down and smiled on all He had made, enjoying Himself and His Creatures enjoying Him. But then, He realized something was still missing. He hadn't signed his artwork, and He had no one like Himself to play in His artwork with.
So, He knelt down, and carved an idol in His Image out of Earth. All of Creation held its breath in anticipation as He breathed His into the nostrils of this strange, new Creature. Even the Bright Ones of the Spirit above the skies looked down in awe at this new thing their Father was making. The new creature sputtered and coughed, and fluttered open its eyes. And this, the Artist called good.
"Welcome to the World, My Child," the Artist said happily.
"Wha-what am I?" the Creature asked its Creator.
"You are Adam, Man, and I made you from adamah, the dirt. Adam from adamah. I made you from the lowliest part of my Art, and yet you are my crowning achievement, my self-portrait."
And so, the Father made for Himself a son, and living statue made in His Image. "You are made in My Image."
"What does that mean?" the Man asked his Father.
"It means that you are given dominion over all of your sister Earth, over all of her creatures. Over all of her skies and seas, birds and trees, caves and bees. You get to rule it on My Behalf, with Me."
"Is that the only reason you made me?" the Man asked.
"No!" replied the Artist, smiling brighter than Sun. "I made you to be My Friend, My Child, My Lover, My Partner. I made you to join Me in having fun in this Creation I've made. I want you to help me bring the creative potential of this Artwork to its fullest."
"Oh, that sounds amazing!"
The Artist, however, didn't want to leave His son in a state where he was forced to Love Him and partner with Him. So, He gave His son a way out. He put a tree in the middle of the Garden they were in, and said, "Son, you can eat to your stomach's desire from anything in all of the Garden that grows out of the ground, but the Tree of Good and Not-Good in the center you must never eat from. I know what's good, just ask Me if you want to know. Trust Me to tell you rightly."
"Ok Pappa," the Man said. "What are we going to do now?" he asked excitedly.
"Well, since I have Two Partners, and now I've made you to be My Partner, it only makes sense for you to find a partner for yourself since you're made in My Image. I'll bring all the Creatures of Earth to you, and you can name them whatever you like! And while we're doing it, you can see if any of them are a suitable partner for you!"
And so, that's what they did. Many of the creatures were very friendly, especially one the Man named dog. All of them could be suitable partners for the man in the same way that the Man was a suitable partner for the Artist. But, the Man found no equal. The Artist was above him, and had Two other equal Partners; the animals were below him and had many equal partners amongst themselves. But, for the Man, no equal was found. For the first time, the Artist saw that something was not good. So from the Man, He made Woman, whom Man named Life.
So, Man and Life were madly in Love, and the Artist said that this was not only good, but very good. He invited His children to join with Him in bringing out the creative potential of Earth. He told them to go and have fun, to make music and art and cultures and homes and books and languages etc. etc. But, to remember that their foremost job was to take care of their brother and sister animals and Earth herself. But then, the kids, rather than painting with their Maker, decided to dump a vial of stain all over His Artwork. Rather than Trusting Him, they decided to make up their own mind about what was good and evil and stained themselves and everything around them. They stained the innocent animals, plants, skies, seas, Sun, Moon, and Earth herself. Everything but the Artist was stained. And He was heartbroken. He had two options, He could either destroy His entire Creation, or Restore it. He chose the latter. As a master Artist, He knows that there are certain chemicals which can lift a stain from art without hurting what's underneath. So He went out, sacrificed EVERYTHING He had, and bought a vial of the chemical, which is known as Jesus's Blood. He went first to His children, dipped a rag in the Blood, and cleaned them off. Next, He handed each of them a rag and offered them a new invitation: "Join with Me in restoring My Art, so that we can start over again from where we left off!" And so His kids decided to help Him wipe off the Art, including the animals, and their lost brothers and sisters. One day, though, the Artist promised to return fully and by His Blood finally cleanse and restore everything back to what it used to be.
That, everyone, is the Story of the Bible, the Good News of the Kingdom. The ultimate victory in it, is that Jesus is going to restore everything back to the status quo. This isn't just a pie in the sky story, either. It's Biblical. Verses that claim Jesus will restore everything when He comes back and raises us from the dead: Luke 3:6 (Isaiah 52:10), Roman 8:19-22, Isaiah 65:17, 2 Peter 3:10-13 ( The Greek word Peter used for “new” in verse 13 is kainos, which refers to a state of freshness, as in renewal. The earth will thus be made “new,” or renewed or restored, by God. The heavens will likewise be made “new” by the same process.), Psalm 102:25-26, Acts 3:19-21, Revelation 21:1 (which also uses kainos).
Contrary to popular belief, God will not destroy His Art. And why would He? Why should He? He's God, after all. Our sin is not so great as to force Him to do anything. God Loves His Art and called it GOOD without us. He will renew it all. And that includes animals. If God is going to restore everything back to the way it was in the Garden of Eden, then shouldn't the innocents, the good animals that God made Lovingly who died because of us be restored also? If God is fair and Just and Loving then shouldn't He resurrect and restore those who were innocent of all sin, who we slaughtered because of our wickedness? Of course He would. Christ died for all Creation, not just us. It is very, very arrogant of us to assume that God only Loves people. Don't we remember Noah's flood? God saved more animals than people! He did that because He Loves them and they are innocent of our sins! He could have very easily remade all the animals after the flood; the same with Man. But, He saved Noah and the animals for the same reasons: He Loved them and wanted to preserve them. He even made a covenant with the animals not to flood the Earth again, for their sake and ours. God has His Eye on the sparrow, and feeds it and cares for it because He Loves it. Why would He condemn all of these innocents He Loves to eternal death because of a mistake we made? He wouldn't! It's really, really arrogant and hypocritical to say that we believe God Created everything, and breathed the Breath of Life into all living things, but only Loves humans and only cares for humans and only died for a tiny, miniscule part of His Creation called "Man." Go read Psalm 8, King David agrees.
2) The Soul
Many debate whether or not animals can be Resurrected, as they assert that they, "Do not have a soul." However, at least in my experience, this is just a speculative claim on their behalf without much supporting evidence. The only strong argument from evidence they give is actually a lack of evidence, in that they believe that the Bible is absent in saying anything about animals having a spirit or a soul. And thus, they revert to neo-platonic arguments speculating what a soul is. The Bible, however, is very clear on the nature of animals: like humans, they have a body, a spirit, and a soul (in that order).
See, we as Westerners have lost what the soul actually is. According to your Average Joe, and even your average pastor, the soul is some spiritual-only, metaphysical reality. It's either the mind or the heart, or the essence of the "true you." Nothing could be further from the Truth. In the Old Testament, there are three main components to any living being: the ruakh, the body, and the nephesh. Let's break each of those down.
Ruakh in Hebrew can mean one of three things, or all three things at once, depending on the context. It can mean spirit (or life-force), it can mean breath, and/or it can mean wind. A ruakh is simply an invisible, animating force that enables something to move. So, for example, when the Spirit of God "breathes" on people, it's really saying, "The ruakh of the Ruakh of God on people." That's why at Pentecost, the Ruakh ha'Kodesh (Holy Spirit) came rushing in like a strong wind (ruakh). That's why Jesus said that those who live in the spirit (ruakh) are like the wind (ruakh), blowing about. And so, the ruakh of a living creature is its breath, and its spirit. It is what animates you to live. That's why it's called the Breath (ruakh) of Life. There's no difference there between your breath and your spirit. It's a play on words where the physical and the spiritual are intertwined realities (keep this intertwining in mind). The ruakh is also where your heart and your mind reside. To the ancient Hebrews, the heart and the mind weren't separate things as they were in Greek philosophy. They were two sides of the same coin. Your emotions and your thoughts weren't really any different. That's why you find Old Testament verses that talking about the thoughts of the heart.
The body is obviously what it is. The body is your physical, material existence. It is the part of you later called "the flesh" in the New Testament. But, here's where things get tricky. See, the Ancient Hebrews held to a philosophy that would (much) later come to be known as "dual-aspect idealism." The particular brand of idealism they held to can be summed up like this: "The body and the spirit are one. There's no real difference or separation. The body is the physical expression, or manifestation, of the spirit. And the spirit is the spiritual expression, or manifestation, of the body." A rather poor example of this is the concept of Nestle powder chocolate milk. You have two, distinct aspects: the powder, and the milk. But, they're one entity (after being stirred together). You can't separate the powder from the milk, it's one beverage made of two equal parts that aren't really different anymore. An example of this is just like the ruakh is the mind and the heart (emotion center), so to is your physical brain. Your brain is just a physical manifestation of part of your ruakh, and your ruakh is just a spiritual manifestation of your brain. That's why the way you think can change your brain, and why changing your brain can change the way you think.
This leads us to nephesh. The word nephesh in Hebrew is what is generally translated as "soul." What it literally means, though, is "throat." The nephesh is the symbol of the total being, the entire human. If the powder is the ruakh, and the milk is the body, the nephesh is the completed product: the chocolate milk. The reason why is because one's life is intricately tied to one's throat. It's where your breath, or ruakh, really enters the bulk of your body and animates your chest, it's where your food and sustenance go into your stomach, its where the blood is carried to your brain. One's soul, then, is not just some spiritual, metaphysical component. Instead, it's the total package: your spirit-breath (ruakh) and your body. Further proof of this is that murderers in the Old Testament are called "nephesh-slayers," and kidnappers are called "nephesh-stealers." Dead bodies are called a dead nephesh. You don't have a soul, you are a soul. You have a spirit, and you have a body, but together they make up you, your nephesh. English used to use soul this way, to mean the total being. But, it's fallen out of popular usage. The only time it's still used is on boats and airplanes. When one crashes you hear, "XYZ number of souls were on board."
And this leads us back to animals. Animals, according to Scripture, do have a ruakh (Genesis 1:30, 6:17, 7:15, 7:21-23; Ecclesiastes 3:21, etc.), and they obviously have bodies and throats (nepheshes). And so, animals do have souls. They don't just have them but like us they are souls. It's the body-spirit package. And so, if animals have bodies which have ruakh breathed through their nephesh into them, like we do, then there's no argument to be made saying, "Animals can't enjoy the resurrection because they have no soul!"
3) Choice
Some assert that animals cannot enjoy the Resurrection of all things because they cannot choose to Follow Jesus, that they have no wills or volition to do so. But, this argument falls short because, if true, it would indict every miscarriage, every stillbirth, and every young child who dies before coming to moral realization all because they didn't, and like the animals couldn't, choose to accept Jesus. If you're prepared to make that argument then go for it, but if you're going to argue that young children and infants aren't going to be Resurrected by their Loving and Graceful Father, then I'd argue that you don't know Jesus personally.
4) The Belief of the Fathers
The earliest church after the era of the Apostles is known as the Ante-Nicene Church. Many, myself included, put a lot of stock into what they say due to their proximity to the time and places of the Apostles. They're often called "the Fathers of the Church." Many of them, like Origen, believed that all of Creation was going to be restored, and this included a Resurrection of the animals.
5) The First Commission
The first job Yahweh gave us, as seen in the Grand Story above, was to be the Kings and Queens of Creation, to rule on His behalf with Him as our partner. Two major aspects of that were tending for the animals and, more or less, gardening. If our pets are living beings that Jesus has gifted to us, then is not taking care of our pets a way to continue our first job in the now fallen world? Owning a pet is literally recreating a piece of Eden in your life. It's good for Creation and for your soul. It's a way to fight the chaos and enmity The Enemy put between man and Creation. I have a good Roman Catholic friend who often says, "It's ironic that dog is just God spelled backward because when man rebelled against his master God, dog rebelled against his master Man." So, if Jesus gifts us with these cute little blessings in our lives that are ways of continuing to serve Him in our original prerogative, if He's entrusting His beloved Creatures to our stewardship, then why wouldn't He gift them back to us, entrust them to us forever when Creation is made anew and we are to pick up the old job once again?
6) Conclusion
Jesus obviously absolutely Loves animals and made them not just for us, nor was Creation made just for us, nor did He die just for us. He Is Yahweh, The Creator and Most High God of All Things, not just of man. That means He's the God of the Animals too. And, since they are innocents who cannot sin and cannot choose Him, who are souls, and since Scripture says Jesus is the Savior of the Whole Cosmos Who will Renew and Restore all things, then I believe the evidence very, very strongly points towards the Resurrection of animals and, yes, our pets.
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