DO DOGS GO TO HEAVEN?

Consider the following evidence and make up your mind.  [Much of what follows is taken from Randy Alcorn's book, HEAVEN]] 

When God made the animals, He 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.  And God saw that it was good”   (Genesis 1:25).

Isaiah 65 and 66 specifically speak about the New Earth (Heaven).  Here we read, “‘The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox…They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,’ says the Lord”  (65:25). 

When God saved Noah, He also included the animals.  God commanded Noah, “You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.  Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive”  (Genesis 6:19-20).

After the Flood, God made a covenant with Noah, and in that new covenant God included animals: 

“I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth.  (Genesis 9:9-10)

Are animals important to God?

• God ordered ravens to feed Elijah  -  I Kings 17:4,6
• God “…provided a great fish to swallow Jonah…”  -  Jonah 1:17
• God sent a fish with a coin in its mouth to teach Jesus’ disciples a lesson  -  Matthew 17:27
• In Numbers 22, God enabled Balaam’s donkey to speak to him and save his life!
• When God sent Jonah to rescue Ninevah, God expressed His concern not only for the people in Ninevah but for its “…many cattle as well.  Should I not be concerned about that great city?”  -  Jonah 4:11
• God’s care for animals even appears in the Ten Commandments:  “Six days a week are set apart for your daily duties and regular work, but the seventh is a day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.  On that day no one in your household may do any kind of work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you”  -  Exodus 20:9-10
• Even the sacrificial system elevates animals.  God repeatedly revealed His messianic Redeemer as a lamb.  It was because of their value that their sacrifice revealed sin’s horror and the exorbitant cost of redemption.  Millions of lambs were slaughtered in Israel’s history, each pointing to Christ’s redemptive work.

Psalm 148 commands all of creation to praise the Lord, including the animals:  “Wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children.  Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted;  his splendor is above the earth and heavens”  (vv. 10-13).  Psalm 150:6, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

Revelation 5:13, 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!”

We’re told that in Eden the serpent was “more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made”  (Genesis 3:1).  More crafty suggests that some of the other animals were also crafty.  Animals were smart, probably smarter than we imagine;  the most intelligent animals we see around us are but fallen remnants of what once was.  The serpent’s intelligence was demonstrated in reasoning and persuasive speech.  People typically imagine that Satan possessed a dumb animal, the snake, but the text doesn’t say that.  The fact that he spoke through an animal in Eden suggests the animal had the capacity to speak.  There’s no suggestion Eve was surprised to hear an animal speak, indicating other animals also may have spoken.

In Revelation 5:13, “every creature” in the universe is said to sing and give praise to the Lamb.  The word for creature in that verse is ktsima, which clearly means “animals” in its only other appearance in Revelation 8:9.  

When God created Adam, He surrounded him with animals!

When God saved Noah and his family, He surrounded them with animals!

When Jesus was born, He was surrounded with animals!

Joni Earickson Tada writes:  If God brings our pets back to life, it wouldn’t surprise me.  It would be just like Him.  It would be totally in keeping with His generous character…Exorbitant.  Excessive.  Extravagant in grace after grace.  Of all the dazzling discoveries and ecstatic pleasures heaven will hold for us, the potential of seeing Scrappy would be pure whimsy – utterly, joyfully, surprisingly superfluous…Heaven is going to be a place that will refract and reflect in as many ways as possible the goodness and joy of our great God, who delights in lavishing love on His children.” 

John Wesley argued that animals originally had greater understanding, wills, passions, liberty, and choice.  He said, “How beautiful many of them were, we may conjecture from that which still remains…It is probable they sustained much loss…their vigor, strength, and swiftness.  But undoubtedly they suffered far more in their understanding…” 

C. S. Lewis’ fantasy writings regularly include animals that can talk.  We know that Lewis had a creative and imaginative view of a renewed Earth (Heaven)! 

Humorist Will Rogers said:  “If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”