Post by Cindy on Jun 26, 2015 11:36:29 GMT -5
This was actually my very first experience in apologetics, although I'd never even heard the term at the time. I was only 12 years old and argued for over an hour with a priest about it. I had plenty of bible verses even then to back what I said, and he had nothing and finally gave up!
There are many scriptures that show that God loves all the animals He created and that He considers every single one of them His own. He has made covenants with the animals just as He has with people. There are quite obviously animals in heaven already as scriptures show us. (horses for one thing-but not the only thing)
One major thing I've heard over and over from some folks who refuse to even consider this is that animals can't be "saved" and since only the saved go to heaven they can't go to heaven. That sounds good on the surface but only if you don't follow the thought through. God created heaven and earth for us as places for us to live and be happy. Heaven is to be our ultimate home and it will be on a "new earth". Heaven is not going to be some big empty place with only God and humans in it! Plants also cannot be "saved" and neither can gold or jewels yet we know that God has made Heaven to be so beautiful that we can't even imagine it. Why? He did it for us!!!! He loves us!!!! We know that we are going to have new immortal bodies and although we don't know if we will "have to" eat, we know that there is food in heaven because God is going to give us a banquet there!
God knows us better then we know ourselves. He knows what we enjoy and what we love. In fact, God gave us our desires and the ability to love. The two most important commandments that are the base for everything God commands us is to love Him and love each other right? God Himself is love! Now, does it make any sense at all that a God who is love, would make an animal that He loved and cause us to have feelings of love for, and then prohibit that animal from joining us in our final home? I'm sorry but to me it goes against everything the bible teaches us about God Himself and how He operates. Not only that, but consider what God's first command to man was: “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.”” (Genesis 1:28) We were and are to care for the animals He created as well as everything else. Do you think that's going to change in eternity, since we will spend it on a "new earth"? I don't! God doesn't change and He doesn't change His mind either. Often we think of Heaven, the new earth, as being like the original Eden, but in truth, it's actually even better! We know that like it was originally, there will be no sin at all, in humans, animals, or the earth itself. While animals and the earth -plants, rocks, mountains, etc don't sin, they are corrupted by our sin and all the sin that's gone before us. That's why the Lord is going to make us a new earth, so that nothing will be corrupted or defiled by sin anymore, and that will include all the animals.
Yes, only saved human beings will be in heaven, but no animal has a sin nature. They are all simply under the curse that God put on the entire earth when Adam sinned, and God Himself lifts that curse when Jesus returns at the Millennium. At that point all the animals still alive and those born from then on will be like they were in the Garden. Nonviolent and loving. There will no longer be a "food chain", like there is now. God will provide for them as He did in the Garden just as He will provide for us as well.
Now, that begs another question. Does that mean that there will be no meat eaten in heaven? No it doesn't. God gave us some animals, (not all) for food and therefore we know there will still be some available at least in the millennium. ( and possibly in heaven, we can't know either way about that though as so very little is actually said about our time in eternity after the Millennium.) In fact there is a specific verse that actually says that we will eat meat (if we want to).
Isaiah 25:6–8— On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.
God loves to give us good gifts! He loves us and nothing pleases Him more then to be able to give us things that will make us happy! This too is speaking of the Millennium:
Jeremiah 31:12–14 —They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord.”
So based on everything I know about my God from His Word and from my relationship with Him, I feel 1000% positive that there will be and are animals in heaven.
I started a bible study on this for myself and was just blown away by how often the Lord mentions animals in His Word. Let me share some of my notes:
The following is a list of scriptures to support that there will be animals in heaven and that our pets go to heaven when they die.
God had Adam name the animals. If they weren't important to Him, He wouldn't have bothered:
Gen 2:20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
God saved the animals from the flood, so why wouldn't they be in heaven also?
Gen 7:8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.
Gen 9: 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal.
He has made a covenant with the animals...they are that important to Him. Why then would He leave them out of heaven?
Gen 9:9-10 I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you. ”the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals
Exodus11:5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.
Exodus 11:5 the firstborn: Those considered in all ancient societies as of special rank. Even the firstborn of the animals were involved in God's judgment, just as they were in the repentance of Nineveh under Jonah's preaching (Jon. 3:7, 8).
Exodus 12:29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
Exodus 13:2 Consecrate to me every first born male. The offspring of every womb belongs to me, whether man or animal.
Israel was always to remember that the firstborn of her sons and animals belonged to God.
It took an animal to see the Angel, which some say was Jesus!
Numbers 22:23 Balaam's donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road.
Here again God used animals:
1 Samuel 6:12 Cows carrying the ark of the Lord did not turn but went straight, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left.
Job 12:7 Ask the animals and they will teach you.
Psalm 50:10; Psalm 148:7-14
For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. Praise the lord from the earth you great sea creatures, wild animals and cattle, small creatures and flying birds; let them praise the name of the Lord for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. Praise the Lord!
Hosea 2:18
In that day I will make a covenant for them, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground.
Jonah 1:17, 2:10 The Lord provided a great fish and commanded the fish
Ecclesiastes 3:18-21 I also thought, As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?
and here we see that the living creatures even have animal features!
Ezekiel 1:5-10 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man. All four of them had faces and wings, and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.
Joel 1:19 To you, O Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the open pastures.
God always fulfills every creatures desire for Him!
Zechariah 6:1-6 I saw four chariots coming...red horses, black, white, and the fourth horse dapple. These are ...going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world...
New Testament
Matthew 10:29 Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.
Luke 2:6-8 Jesus was born in a manger among the animals. Shepherds tending sheep saw the angels announcing the birth of our Savior.
Luke 19:28 Jesus, for His triumphal entry, chose two colts to ride into Bethany at the hill of the Mount of Olives.
This is a very clear picture of heaven and it definitely shows animals as being there because the word translated "creature" in the original language means all biological life:
“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!”” (Revelation 5:13)
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.” (Revelation 19:11)
This next verse shows for sure that there's not just "one' horse in heaven but thousands or more because all of us who've been saved, will be on a horse following Jesus when He returns!
“The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.” (Revelation 19:14)
And this one shows birds in heaven:
Psalm 84:2–4 — My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah
I researched Heaven and I will say that I saw absolutely no reason to think that animals (and birds and fish, etc) wouldn't be there, and many reasons to believe that they will be. In fact, when I first started investigating this when I got my Logos Bible Study software, I figured there's be a bunch of them, because I already knew of quite a few, but even I was flabbergasted when I saw how many there were! It's amazing! I finally had to give up listing them all as I had started to do.
Here's some passages I'd like to have everyone take a look at though:
Psalm 104:24-30 How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.
“The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen,” (Isaiah 43:20)
Note in this next verse, God's promise is to the ANIMALS, NOT to people!
Isaiah 34:16-17 Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together. He allots their portions; his hand distributes them by measure. They will possess it forever and dwell there from generation to generation.
also note that God made this covenant not only with us but also with the animals (something that most people don't realize)
Genesis 9:8-10 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “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.
and again He will make a covenant with the animals for during the Millennium:
Hosea 2:18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.
In one of my bible study guides, it also shows animals in heaven. Let me quote it for you:
The first event in our Lord’s return to earth will be the battle of Armageddon. Revelation 19:14 reveals that the saints, now in their eternal (reconstituted) bodies, will accompany Jesus Christ, each mounted on a white charger. This indicates that there are animals in heaven, so also in eternity; so if you have wondered whether pets “go to heaven,”this may provide your answer! Mills, M. S. (1999). The Life of Christ: A Study Guide to the Gospel Record.
To that, all I'll add is "Amen!"
Hundreds of animals, birds, fish, etc are named in the bible and God commanded man to care for them. We're told that He made a covenant with them and will make another one with them at the start of the Millennium. His covenants last forever, not just a short time, not even just for 1000 years. I honestly don't see how anyone that's actually studied this can say there's even a slight chance that animals, birds, etc won't be in Heaven on the New Earth. The only way they could is if they've never actually studied the subject and don't know the whole bible or God's plans for us for eternity - at least the portions He shares with us.
Many pastors/teachers refuse to say outright that animals/pets will be in Heaven. Most of them say something to the effect that they will be in the Millennial Kingdom but that the bible "doesn't say explicitly that they will be in Heaven" so we can't know for sure. To me that's a cop out. The bible doesn't say many things "explicitly" that they have no trouble teaching, such as the trinity, the rapture, the divinity of Christ, etc. The bible speaks on all these issues and we know the truth about them from what the bible does say, but nowhere does the bible actually say that "God is a triune God"; "Jesus is God"; "The rapture is when Jesus will take the church Home to Heaven", etc. Just as the Bible doesn't explicitly say, "Your pets will be in heaven along with all the other animals". Yet, I believe from all I've already shown, that we can be just as sure the our pets and other animals WILL be in heaven, just as we believe that God is one in three, Jesus is God and the rapture will happen.
Well, this will do for now; I certainly don't need any more evidence.
There are many scriptures that show that God loves all the animals He created and that He considers every single one of them His own. He has made covenants with the animals just as He has with people. There are quite obviously animals in heaven already as scriptures show us. (horses for one thing-but not the only thing)
One major thing I've heard over and over from some folks who refuse to even consider this is that animals can't be "saved" and since only the saved go to heaven they can't go to heaven. That sounds good on the surface but only if you don't follow the thought through. God created heaven and earth for us as places for us to live and be happy. Heaven is to be our ultimate home and it will be on a "new earth". Heaven is not going to be some big empty place with only God and humans in it! Plants also cannot be "saved" and neither can gold or jewels yet we know that God has made Heaven to be so beautiful that we can't even imagine it. Why? He did it for us!!!! He loves us!!!! We know that we are going to have new immortal bodies and although we don't know if we will "have to" eat, we know that there is food in heaven because God is going to give us a banquet there!
God knows us better then we know ourselves. He knows what we enjoy and what we love. In fact, God gave us our desires and the ability to love. The two most important commandments that are the base for everything God commands us is to love Him and love each other right? God Himself is love! Now, does it make any sense at all that a God who is love, would make an animal that He loved and cause us to have feelings of love for, and then prohibit that animal from joining us in our final home? I'm sorry but to me it goes against everything the bible teaches us about God Himself and how He operates. Not only that, but consider what God's first command to man was: “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.”” (Genesis 1:28) We were and are to care for the animals He created as well as everything else. Do you think that's going to change in eternity, since we will spend it on a "new earth"? I don't! God doesn't change and He doesn't change His mind either. Often we think of Heaven, the new earth, as being like the original Eden, but in truth, it's actually even better! We know that like it was originally, there will be no sin at all, in humans, animals, or the earth itself. While animals and the earth -plants, rocks, mountains, etc don't sin, they are corrupted by our sin and all the sin that's gone before us. That's why the Lord is going to make us a new earth, so that nothing will be corrupted or defiled by sin anymore, and that will include all the animals.
Yes, only saved human beings will be in heaven, but no animal has a sin nature. They are all simply under the curse that God put on the entire earth when Adam sinned, and God Himself lifts that curse when Jesus returns at the Millennium. At that point all the animals still alive and those born from then on will be like they were in the Garden. Nonviolent and loving. There will no longer be a "food chain", like there is now. God will provide for them as He did in the Garden just as He will provide for us as well.
Now, that begs another question. Does that mean that there will be no meat eaten in heaven? No it doesn't. God gave us some animals, (not all) for food and therefore we know there will still be some available at least in the millennium. ( and possibly in heaven, we can't know either way about that though as so very little is actually said about our time in eternity after the Millennium.) In fact there is a specific verse that actually says that we will eat meat (if we want to).
Isaiah 25:6–8— On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.
God loves to give us good gifts! He loves us and nothing pleases Him more then to be able to give us things that will make us happy! This too is speaking of the Millennium:
Jeremiah 31:12–14 —They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord.”
So based on everything I know about my God from His Word and from my relationship with Him, I feel 1000% positive that there will be and are animals in heaven.
I started a bible study on this for myself and was just blown away by how often the Lord mentions animals in His Word. Let me share some of my notes:
The following is a list of scriptures to support that there will be animals in heaven and that our pets go to heaven when they die.
God had Adam name the animals. If they weren't important to Him, He wouldn't have bothered:
Gen 2:20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
God saved the animals from the flood, so why wouldn't they be in heaven also?
Gen 7:8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah.
Gen 9: 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal.
He has made a covenant with the animals...they are that important to Him. Why then would He leave them out of heaven?
Gen 9:9-10 I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you. ”the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals
Exodus11:5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.
Exodus 11:5 the firstborn: Those considered in all ancient societies as of special rank. Even the firstborn of the animals were involved in God's judgment, just as they were in the repentance of Nineveh under Jonah's preaching (Jon. 3:7, 8).
Exodus 12:29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
Exodus 13:2 Consecrate to me every first born male. The offspring of every womb belongs to me, whether man or animal.
Israel was always to remember that the firstborn of her sons and animals belonged to God.
It took an animal to see the Angel, which some say was Jesus!
Numbers 22:23 Balaam's donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road.
Here again God used animals:
1 Samuel 6:12 Cows carrying the ark of the Lord did not turn but went straight, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left.
Job 12:7 Ask the animals and they will teach you.
Psalm 50:10; Psalm 148:7-14
For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. Praise the lord from the earth you great sea creatures, wild animals and cattle, small creatures and flying birds; let them praise the name of the Lord for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. Praise the Lord!
Hosea 2:18
In that day I will make a covenant for them, with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground.
Jonah 1:17, 2:10 The Lord provided a great fish and commanded the fish
Ecclesiastes 3:18-21 I also thought, As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?
and here we see that the living creatures even have animal features!
Ezekiel 1:5-10 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man. All four of them had faces and wings, and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a man, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.
Joel 1:19 To you, O Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the open pastures.
God always fulfills every creatures desire for Him!
Zechariah 6:1-6 I saw four chariots coming...red horses, black, white, and the fourth horse dapple. These are ...going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world...
New Testament
Matthew 10:29 Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.
Luke 2:6-8 Jesus was born in a manger among the animals. Shepherds tending sheep saw the angels announcing the birth of our Savior.
Luke 19:28 Jesus, for His triumphal entry, chose two colts to ride into Bethany at the hill of the Mount of Olives.
This is a very clear picture of heaven and it definitely shows animals as being there because the word translated "creature" in the original language means all biological life:
“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!”” (Revelation 5:13)
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.” (Revelation 19:11)
This next verse shows for sure that there's not just "one' horse in heaven but thousands or more because all of us who've been saved, will be on a horse following Jesus when He returns!
“The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.” (Revelation 19:14)
And this one shows birds in heaven:
Psalm 84:2–4 — My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah
I researched Heaven and I will say that I saw absolutely no reason to think that animals (and birds and fish, etc) wouldn't be there, and many reasons to believe that they will be. In fact, when I first started investigating this when I got my Logos Bible Study software, I figured there's be a bunch of them, because I already knew of quite a few, but even I was flabbergasted when I saw how many there were! It's amazing! I finally had to give up listing them all as I had started to do.
Here's some passages I'd like to have everyone take a look at though:
Psalm 104:24-30 How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.
“The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen,” (Isaiah 43:20)
Note in this next verse, God's promise is to the ANIMALS, NOT to people!
Isaiah 34:16-17 Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together. He allots their portions; his hand distributes them by measure. They will possess it forever and dwell there from generation to generation.
also note that God made this covenant not only with us but also with the animals (something that most people don't realize)
Genesis 9:8-10 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: “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.
and again He will make a covenant with the animals for during the Millennium:
Hosea 2:18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.
In one of my bible study guides, it also shows animals in heaven. Let me quote it for you:
The first event in our Lord’s return to earth will be the battle of Armageddon. Revelation 19:14 reveals that the saints, now in their eternal (reconstituted) bodies, will accompany Jesus Christ, each mounted on a white charger. This indicates that there are animals in heaven, so also in eternity; so if you have wondered whether pets “go to heaven,”this may provide your answer! Mills, M. S. (1999). The Life of Christ: A Study Guide to the Gospel Record.
To that, all I'll add is "Amen!"
Hundreds of animals, birds, fish, etc are named in the bible and God commanded man to care for them. We're told that He made a covenant with them and will make another one with them at the start of the Millennium. His covenants last forever, not just a short time, not even just for 1000 years. I honestly don't see how anyone that's actually studied this can say there's even a slight chance that animals, birds, etc won't be in Heaven on the New Earth. The only way they could is if they've never actually studied the subject and don't know the whole bible or God's plans for us for eternity - at least the portions He shares with us.
Many pastors/teachers refuse to say outright that animals/pets will be in Heaven. Most of them say something to the effect that they will be in the Millennial Kingdom but that the bible "doesn't say explicitly that they will be in Heaven" so we can't know for sure. To me that's a cop out. The bible doesn't say many things "explicitly" that they have no trouble teaching, such as the trinity, the rapture, the divinity of Christ, etc. The bible speaks on all these issues and we know the truth about them from what the bible does say, but nowhere does the bible actually say that "God is a triune God"; "Jesus is God"; "The rapture is when Jesus will take the church Home to Heaven", etc. Just as the Bible doesn't explicitly say, "Your pets will be in heaven along with all the other animals". Yet, I believe from all I've already shown, that we can be just as sure the our pets and other animals WILL be in heaven, just as we believe that God is one in three, Jesus is God and the rapture will happen.
Well, this will do for now; I certainly don't need any more evidence.