Page 150 - Apologetics Student Textbook (3 Credits)

step they took. He sovereignly got them to go where He wanted by putting them in situations where He
knew what they would choose.

God does this throughout Scripture. It is clear that God is completely in control and that He has made
man completely free. Even in their fallen and corrupted state. In his work, The Knowledge of the Holy, Dr
A.W. Tozer summarizes the biblical teaching well when he says “God sovereignly decreed that man
should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making
his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the
sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man
should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man
limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, 'What doest thou?' Man’s will is free because God
is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would
be afraid to do so.” God’s sovereignty is never threatened by human freedom. Rather, it establishes it
and holds its users accountable.

Do animals live forever?

The Bible does not give any explicit teaching on whether pets/animals
have “souls” or whether pets/animals will be in heaven. However, we
can use general biblical principles to develop some clarity on the
subject. The Bible states that both man (Genesis 2:7) and animals
(Genesis 1:30; 6:17; 7:15, 22) have the “breath of life”; that is, both man
and animals are living beings. The primary difference between human
beings and animals is that humanity is made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27), while
animals are not. Being made in the image and likeness of God means that human beings are like God,
capable of spirituality, with mind, emotion, and will, and they have a part of their being that continues
after death. If pets/animals do have a “soul” or immaterial aspect, it must therefore be of a different
and lesser “quality.” This difference possibly means that pet/animal “souls” do not continue in existence
after death.

The Bible says that the heavens and earth that exist today will be destroyed, and a new Heaven and
earth will be created. What will this new heavens and new earth be like? Isaiah describes it as a place
where there is no more weeping and crying, but rather rejoicing (Isaiah 65:17-19). People shall build
houses and live in them, plant vineyards, and enjoy their fruit. All will be well again, better than Eden.
Indeed, “the wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox,” (Isa 65:25).
Elsewhere, when the prophet describes the blessings of the new creation in Christ, he says, “the wolf
will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and
the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them,” (Isa 11:6).

Revelation indicates that when Jesus comes back to rule and reign in Jerusalem, that he will come
seated on a white horse. (Rev. 19:11). It also indicates that the saints will come with him on horses. So
evidently God has some stables in Heaven to keep the horses.

Another factor to consider regarding whether pets will be heaven is that animals are a part of God’s
creative process in Genesis. God created the animals and said they were good (Genesis 1:25). Therefore,
there is no reason why there could not be pets / animals on the new earth (Revelation 21:1). There will
most definitely be animals during the millennial kingdom (Isaiah 11:6; 65:25). It is impossible to say
definitively whether some of these animals might be the pets we had while here on earth. We do know

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