Church bulletin for September
Not that long ago we didn’t have any, now we have five. I am referring to pets. Two bearded dragon lizards (Cromwell and Scout), one blue tongue lizard (Geno), one long neck turtle (Frankie), and one Pug cross Cavalier puppy (Rhino).
Animals are fascinating and can bring a great deal of pleasure. Obviously God had a purpose in creating animals; it is clear that He cares for the welfare of animals. Deut 25:4, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Jonah 4:11, “And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” Prov 12:10, “A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”
With these thoughts in mind, can we expect to find the likes of Cromwell (the lizard not Oliver) in the new heavens and the new earth? I’m sure Oliver will be there, but what about the horses and dogs he loved? It’s hard to say, but scripture doesn’t discount the possibility. Isaiah 11:6-9, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. “
Redemption involves the whole of the created order. While Isaiah is most likely referring to the effect of the Gospel in symbolic terms (Isaiah 11:1 – Rom 15:12), there is no reason why it will not also have a literal fulfilment at the consummation. The Garden lost through sin, will be the Garden restored through Christ. Our final state will not be spent as disembodied spirits floating in the clouds, but as physical beings on a physical earth in the presence of the physical Christ. Will animals be present? I would like to think so; they are magnificent examples of the creative power of God. If they give us pleasure now, why not on the new earth? If they are not there, it won’t matter as we will have Christ. Something to ponder.