YouTube Search with lots of videos to check on:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Linda+dogs+in+heaven
Dean Braxton People and Pets in Heaven
Animals in Heaven (near death accounts)
Pets in Heaven - Swedenborgian perspective
Do Animals go to Heaven? thought from a traditional Catholic monastery
Visit to Heaven Part 2 John Fenn Pets in Heaven
John Burke brief interview: Last chapter - "Pets Allowed" :-)
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Below is a post I found meaningful because of the way the author tied her hope to the words of the Bible:
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/july2016/lisat710.htm
from a post on 5 doves
Dear DP,
I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your dog Oreo.
I am a lifelong dog-lover and understand the pain of losing
a pet. I do believe that we will see our pets again in
eternity. Psalm 36:6 states: “Thy righteousness is like the
great mountains; thy judgments are
a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.”
A few years ago, I did a post for a fellow Dove who had lost
her pet. I thought that you might like to read the
relevant parts of that post. I hope that it will give
you some comfort and some hope from the Bible:
I believe that animals will be resurrected at some point in
the future. (And maybe even a sampling – like a
firstfruits of all animals – will join us at the
Rapture.) I just wanted to share some of the reasons
and verses that give me hope on the subject.
Noah's Ark
If Noah's Ark is a pattern for the Rapture, then we should
not forget that both clean and unclean animals were
preserved from the Flood, as well. (Sea life also
survived.) Clearly, God cares about animals. And
the Ark may indicate that some will be preserved from the
flood of the Tribulation. ("The end will come like a
flood …" Daniel 9:26.)
The other time that we see a group of clean and unclean
animals together in the Bible is in a vision that Peter was
given. Although the point of the vision was to show
Peter that Gentiles should be permitted to join the Church,
it is interesting to note that these animals are being
lowered in a sheet from heaven.
"About noon the following day as
they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter
went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and
wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being
prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven
opened and something like a large sheet being let down to
earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of
four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and
birds of the air. Then a voice told him, 'Get up,
Peter. Kill and eat.' 'Surely not, Lord!'
Peter replied, 'I have never eaten anything impure or
unclean.' The voice spoke to him a second time, 'Do
not call anything impure that God has made clean.'"
Acts 10:9-15.
So, we have an example of all kinds of animals in heaven.
The Resurrected Lamb
When Jesus began his ministry on earth, John the Baptist
said the following: "The next day
John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb
of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John
1:29.
When the Apostle John sees Jesus in a vision of heaven, he
said the following: "Then I saw a
Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the
center of the throne, encircled by the four living
creatures and elders." Revelation 5:6.
Isn't it interesting that God chose to use the symbolism of
an innocent lamb to describe the Messiah? Isn't it
also interesting that we are given a description of a
resurrected animal? Perhaps this symbolism is rooted
in a reality where Jesus Christ is not only the firstfruits
of humans who will be resurrected, but also of animals.
All Creatures Praise God
Animals seem to be in tune with the spiritual. How
else did the specific pairs of animals know to go to Noah's
Ark? How did Balaam's donkey see the angel of the Lord
and speak to Balaam? Why did the ravens obey God's
order to take bread and meat to Elijah?
There must be a connection between God and all of His
Creation. We tend to be people-centric; but God has
established relationships with all of His Creation.
Since He clearly wants to have an eternal relationship with
us, it should not surprise us if He wants to have an eternal
relationship with the rest of His Creation.
Revelation 5:13 shows us that non-humans are capable of
praising God: "Then I heard every
creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on
the sea, and all that is in them, singing: 'To him who
sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and
glory and power, for ever and ever!'"
Even nature rejoices in the Lord: "You
will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the
mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and
all the trees of the field will clap their hands."
Isaiah 55:12.
Creation Groans
There is a great passage in Romans 8:18-25 which talks about
creation being in a state of frustration because of
us. We know that creation was also subjected to the
curse of Adam's sin. (See Genesis 3:17-18.) But
this passage shows us that after we are liberated from
mortality, creation can also expect a similar
liberation. Since animals are part of creation, I
think we can extrapolate that they will be included.
"I consider that our present
sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that
will be revealed in us. 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. We know
that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains
of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only
so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the
Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption
as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is
seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he
already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet
have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 8:18-25.
Different Bodies Make Different Resurrection Bodies
Finally, the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:35-44 talks about
the fact that immortal bodies will differ depending on the
type of mortal body it originated from. The
interesting thing is that this passage mentions the flesh of
humans, animals, birds, fish, and heavenly and earthly
bodies. Why are all of these things mentioned unless
they will all experience a change from mortality into
immortality?
"When you sow, you do not plant the
body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of
something else. But God gives it a body as he has
determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own
body. All flesh is not the same: Men have one
kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and
fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and
there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the
heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the
earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of
splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star
differs from star in splendor. So will it be with
the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown
is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in
dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness,
it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is
raided a spiritual body." 1 Corinthians 15:37-44.
Scripture tells us that there will be a New Heaven and New
Earth – 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1; Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah
67:22. So, I do not think that it is farfetched to
believe that animals will get an immortal overhaul as well.
Remember that God cared enough about animals to have Adam
name them and to care for them. Animals are important
to God.
"Now the Lord God had formed out of
the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds
of the air. He brought them to the man to see what
he would name them; and whatever the man called each
living creature, that was its name. So the man gave
names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all
the beasts of the field." Genesis 2:19-20.
"So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God he created him; male and female
he created them. God blessed them and said to them,
'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and
subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the
birds of the air and over every living creature that
moves on the ground. Then God said, 'I give
you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole
earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts
of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the
creatures that move on the ground – everything that
has the breath of life in it – I give every green
plant for food.' And it was so." Genesis
1:27-30.
May God bring comfort to you and your daughter.
–
Lisa Taylor
