Will pets go to heaven?

"Will our pets be in heaven?" was asked in church that night. The Pastor before delivering his sermon would take time to answer questions anyone from the audience might have.

I'm sure he gave a very wise answer, one that now I don't recall. Honestly, I didn't care much what it was. Back then I didn't know what having a pet was like, and it was a silly thing to ask, I thought.


Several years later,  I was under different circumstances; with two kittens as pets, raised from days of being born, which my family and I came to love in a way we didn't think was possible.

Sadly one of them after bravely dealing with congestive heart failure,  passed away.  It was that day that exact same question haunted me. So I did what anyone who is reading this might have done. I searched online for an answer.

Unfortunately I didn't find much comfort in what I read. The consensus was: that Christ only died for human beings; that animals don't have the mental capacity to accept Jesus' sacrifice; once they die they are gone forever.

Even though such discouraging comments were vast I did find some answers in the Bible that has given me hope ever since.

God created the animals

In the beginning "God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds" (Genesis 1:25 NIV).

God cares about animals

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. (Matthew 6:26 NIV)

What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. (Matthew 10:29 NLT)

He didn't just create them, set them lose and then forgot about them. He is aware what happens to each one of them. When a pet passes away God certainly knows about it.

There will be animals in heaven

There's no specific section in the scriptures that clearly states whether pets will come with you into heaven, or if there's is a special heaven where pets go to. But it does say that in heaven "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy" (Isaiah 11:6-9 NIV).



God can give life back

(The next passages are from the book of John, chapter 11, where you can read the whole story of Lazarus)

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea”. (verse 6 and 7)

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up."
His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him”. (verses 11 through 14)

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;" (verses 17, 21-25)

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (verses 38 through 43)


God can recreate

He created us once and can do it again. This is what the Bible says will happen in His second coming:

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.
For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NIV)

We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ( Corithians 15:51-53 NIV)


The odds are in our favor!

As the above quotes stated, dying is like falling sleep. The body, no matter how decomposed it becomes, God can wake it up; If He will resurrect humans (such complex creatures) and make them perfect again, how much easier bringing animals back to life would be?!

Furthermore, describing heaven a bit more, the Bible says:

However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV)

God will take away all their tears. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All the old things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4 NLV)

As a christian who takes the Bible as God's word, it's not difficult imagining a heaven with our pets in it. If Jesus only died to save the humankind, maybe animals get a free pass into heaven; it is us, the ones with free will, that might have a harder time getting there. We won't know for sure until then.

For now lets remember those who are no longer with us and appreciate those who still are, always being grateful for the pets that came into our lives. They had a purpose; they taught us to love, to care, to be compassionate; they kept us company, always cheering us up; they made us a better person.