Animals in Heaven by Pastor Riley
God’s Covenant with
the “beasts of the field & fowls of
heaven”
By Pastor F. M. Riley
August 3,2013
“And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the
field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the
ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth,
and will make them to lie down safely,” Hosea 2:18.
Introduction
Dear readers, here is one more passage of inspired Scripture that few
people in the churches and the ranks of Christianity today are even aware
of, even though their pastors and
teachers are supposed to be preaching and teaching them “the whole counsel of God,” Acts
20:26-27. This is a “Millennial
Kingdom” prophecy in God’s Word, which gives true
believers more insight into the wonderful things the Lord God has
prepared for His people in “the ages to come,” 1 Corinthians 2:9;
Ephesians 2:7. But since this
passage, along with many other Millennial Kingdom passages, is seldom if ever,
even mentioned to God’s people today, then what motivation is there for the
average believer to be eagerly looking forward to the coming of Christ and the
Millennial Kingdom? Well…???
By the way, when Paul referred to “preaching the whole counsel of God” he
was referring in the most part at that time to the Old Testament Scriptures
from which he was preaching, for any reader with spiritual sense above a duck
knows that most of the New Testament had not yet been written at that time. Yet today nearly every New Covenant preacher
preaches only and always from the New Testament and never touches the
Old Testament. Is there something wrong
with this picture??? I’ll let our
readers decide for themselves? Now
let’s examine our subject for this Bible study…..
Then…..and
Now
The animals, creeping things, and birds of the air were all created by
the Lord God before He created mankind upon the earth, Genesis
1:20-25. Why? Because they were created by the Lord God for
the benefit of mankind! [Stated without apology to the tree huggers
and environmentalists]. Notice that
they were created on the 5th and 6th days of the week in Genesis
1. After creating the animals and birds and creeping things, the
last creative act of the Lord God recorded in Genesis 1 was the creation of mankind “in
the image of God” on the evening of the 6th day of the week,
1:26-27.
No animal or bird on earth bears “the image of God! Only mankind bears that image,
whether some like it or not!
Compare 1:26-27
with the explicit statement of the Lord God in Genesis 2:1-2, “Thus the heavens
and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh
day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work which He had made.” Does
this imply that the Lord God’s work in creating mankind extended slightly over
into the 7th day? If so, is
it possible that the Lord God created mankind on the earth exactly as the 6th
day of the week was ending and the 7th day was beginning, in a
perfect type of the future
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, “the second Adam,” Matthew 28:1-6; 1
Corinthians 15:45? Does this
also imply that the bodily resurrection of New Covenant believers [or of the believing “remnant” of Israel]
will occur just as the 6th 1,000 year day of God’s Great Week is
ending and the 7th 1,000 year day is beginning? 2 Peter 3:8! Think about it!
But there is something far more important here than
mere speculation, something that most Christian believers appear to have totally
overlooked or ignored.
Every animal and bird that the Lord God had created was brought to Adam
and he gave names to
1
them all, 2:19-20. No, this would not have been impossible
for Adam as the “willingly ignorant” evolutionists claim today. When animals and birds are classified by family groups [related species] rather than individually,
somewhere between 1000 and 1,500 family groups are all that exist in the world
today. Adam could easily have given
names to each family group. We living
today call a cow a “Cow” because that is what Adam originally named it 6,000
years ago, and it includes all of the cattle in the related family of cattle. We call a dog a “Dog” because that is what
Adam named it 6,000 years ago, and all of the different mutations in the family
of dogs are included. And so on…!
Back then the animals and birds brought to Adam were apparently able
to converse with Adam, and Adam with them.
We find evidence of this in Eve’s conversation with the serpent in Genesis
3. The first Divinely Inspired Scripture in this
chapter explicitly states that “the serpent” “said unto the woman,
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” It
is glaringly obvious that Eve did not find it strange that the serpent
was talking to her in a language she could easily understand. And she replied to the serpent. Today wouldn’t it be considered rather
dumb for a man or woman to be carrying on a conversation; especially an
argument or debate, with an animal, knowing that the animal could neither
understand nor answer them? Yet this is
exactly what Eve was doing, and the serpent was replying to her, and the two of
them were conversing back and forth, Genesis 3:1-5. This leads me to believe that in the
beginning it was possible that mankind could converse with all of the animals
and birds and creeping things which God had created.
Yes, I am well
aware that the conversation was actually between Satan and Eve, Revelation
12:9. Nevertheless, back then
there was an actual “serpent” involved. We
know this to be true, because it was actual, literal serpents that the Lord God
placed a curse upon in Genesis
3:14-15, stating that from that day forward “upon thy belly shalt thou go,
and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” Now today
6,000 years later, all serpents still travel or move on their belly. I personally suspect that the serpent in the
garden, which was a natural being, yielded his body to be possessed by
Satan, who is a spiritual being. If some reader has a better explanation, I am
wide open to hearing it.
While many preachers today refer to this account in Genesis
while preaching on the fall of Adam, and thereby the fall of mankind, how many
today pay any attention to the conversation being carried on between Eve
and the serpent? The inspired Word
explicitly states that the serpent spoke to Eve and she answered and
conversed with him. This certainly implies that back then mankind could
converse with the animals, birds, and creeping things which God had created for
man to “have dominion” over, Genesis 1:26-28. Now are our readers going to believe what
God’s Word actually and literally says, or is this account just to be explained
away as so many do today? Be careful how
you answer! God is listening!
It is also interesting to note that God Himself spoke to the serpent and
placed a curse upon him, telling him that thereafter serpents would crawl on
their bellies, 3:14. I see no reason
why the Lord God would have spoken to the serpent unless the serpent was able
to understand what the Lord God was saying.
Hello! The Lord’s curse placed
upon the serpent strongly suggests that serpents might have once had legs to
walk upon, and perhaps even the ability to stand upright. It is fascinating that
evolutionary biologists claim to have discovered that snakes do have the
“nubs” of what were apparently once legs still sprouting from their skeletal
structure. Once in a while scientists do
accidently discover something that confirms the truth of God’s Word. Read Psalms 76:10. Give them enough time and they would
eventually confirm the whole Bible.
Glory to God!
Apparently the ability of mankind and animals to communicate with one
another was lost in the fall, or perhaps taken away at the time of the flood in
the days of Noah. But don’t miss the
fact that both mankind and animals and birds were all vegetarians right up to the time of the flood, Genesis
1:29-30. It is highly possible
that the animals and birds did not even have a “wild” nature until after the
flood.
But following the flood in the days of Noah, some 1656 years after the
creation of Adam upon the earth, the Lord God brought the flood of judgment
upon mankind who had wickedly departed from following the Lord. I personally believe, that in order to
protect the animals and birds from extinction at the hands of wicked men,
the Lord God then gave to them a “wild” nature and made them to become meat
eaters. Likewise, the Lord God gave to
mankind the command and choice of becoming meat eaters. Genesis 9:1-6. And so it has been from that day to the
present time…..
2
Animals
and the Sacrificial Offerings
Surely all of our readers have noticed that from the very beginning of
human history sheep and goats, and cattle such as bulls and heifers, and birds
such as turtledoves and pigeons were offered to God as sacrificial offerings by
His people, Genesis 4:2-5; 8:20-21.
Why these particular animals and birds?
For two reasons….. First, these
animals and birds were totally innocent of any involvement in the great
transgression against God at Eden.
Second, these animals and birds fell into the category of being “clean.” See Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.
Throughout God’s Word the only sacrifices which God would accept were
sacrifices that were “holy” and “innocent.”
This is why our Supreme Sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was “accepted
for us” as He suffered and died at Calvary, and why He is referred to
in the Scriptures as “the Lamb of God.” The totally innocent died to pay the sin debt
of the altogether guilty. Glory to
God! Thank you Lord Jesus! Praise the Lord!
Since
the Flood
Since the time of the flood in “the days of Noah” all animals,
birds, and creeping things have had a “wild nature” and most have been eaters
of flesh, except for the relatively few creatures which mankind has been able
to “domesticate” [tame]. This condition is perfectly in harmony with
what the Lord God said to Noah, “And the fear of you and the dread of you
shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon
all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the
sea; into your hand are they delivered.” Every moving thing that liveth shall
be meat [food] for
you; even as the green herb have I given you all things,” Genesis 9:2-3. Mankind also has been a meat eater
since the flood as stated by the Lord God in 9:3-4. Therefore since the flood mankind has
stalked and hunted for animals and birds and other creatures that they have had
a desire to eat, or simply a desire to kill and proudly display as a “trophy.”
Sic! The animals and birds have
literally been forced to live in constant fear for their lives at the hand of
man for the past nearly 4,400 years since the flood. Right to this day the animals and birds try
to hide themselves in the woods, jungles, mountains, and dens of the earth away
from their most feared enemy; mankind.
We might correctly say that a “state of war” has existed between mankind
and the creatures of the earth ever since the time of the flood some 4,400
years ago.
But, glory to God, hallelujah, praise the Lord, PEACE is coming!
Millennial
Changes
Right today some “professing Christians” read such passages as Isaiah
11:6-9 and 65:25, and claim that these passages are just “figurative” language not meant to be
taken literally. Oh is that so? No! It
is not so! Such a claim is a corruption
of the Word and an outright denial of the truth of the Word.
Dear readers, in the 59 years I have been in the Lord’s ministry, I have
never seen anyone get themselves in spiritual trouble with the Lord for
believing His Word as literal truth,
but I have seen many people get into spiritual trouble for refusing to
literally believe the Word of God. I
fully understand that the inspired Word contains figures of speech, parables,
riddles, signs, symbols, and symbolic language just as any other book ever
written also does. The Lord God wrote
His Word in the language and form which men commonly use in communicating with
one another, for He was writing for men, and desired that men would be able to
understand what He was saying. This
doesn’t change the fact that every figure of speech in God’s Word, every
parable, every riddle, every sign and symbol in the Word is conveying literal truth. It is up to the reader to look to the Lord
for spiritual discernment to understand the literal
truth that the Lord God is setting forth in any given portion of His
Word. John 16:12-15. Hello!
A few weeks ago I wrote and posted a Bible study entitled “The Supper God is Preparing.” This study has to do with the great
supper God is preparing to recompense the animals and birds for their
3
centuries of having to live in constant fear
upon the earth of being killed by men. I
will be glad to send this study to any reader upon request.
In Isaiah 11:6-9 the inspired Word explicitly states, “The
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid [young goat]; and
the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child
shall lead them. And the cow and the
bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall
eat straw like the ox. And the sucking
child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his
hand on the cockatrice den. 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.”
In Isaiah 65:25 the inspired Word explicitly
states, “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat
straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My
holy mountain, saith the Lord.” See
also Job
5:23.
Folks, these prophecies are going to be literally
fulfilled, whether some want to believe it or not. Why? First, because at the time of the Millennial
Kingdom the Lord God is going to remove the curse that all of creation
was placed under when Adam transgressed God’s Law [only one law; not ten] and fell.
Significantly, the removal of this curse will begin with the
resurrection and rapture of New Covenant believers just preceding the beginning
of the Tribulation period, Romans 8:18-23.
Second, the Lord God is going to make a Covenant
with the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air which will be of benefit
to both man and the living creatures.
The
Covenant…..
If our readers will carefully study Hosea 2, the entire chapter, the
context clearly indicates that the Lord God is speaking to and about Israel and
the Jewish people. He explicitly states
that He will bring them “into the wilderness,” 2:14. This is the same “wilderness” that the
Israelites wandered in some 3,500 years ago when they left the land of
Egypt. It is the same “wilderness”
that the Lord God told them to flee to when “the abomination of desolation” is
set up during the Tribulation, Matthew 24:15-16; Mark 13:14. It is exactly where the Lord God said that He
would bring the Jews to during the Tribulation period, Ezekiel 20:33-38.
But in that wilderness even today are bears, lions,
wolves, and other carnivorous beasts. So
if nothing changed, the Jewish people would not only have to fear the pursuing
armies of the anti-christ who will be set on destroying them, but they would
also have to fear the hungry half starved beasts who will be looking for easy
prey. Remember that during the first
half of the Tribulation there will be no rain upon the earth, Revelation
11:6. The animals will be
suffering from hunger just as will mankind, Joel 1:15-20.
But the gracious Lord God has an answer for this
problem. While still speaking to and
about the Jewish people, He says in Hosea 2:18, “And in that day I will make a
covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven,
and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the
sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.” Notice that this covenant is two-fold;
that is, it benefits both the Jewish people and the animals and birds.
[1] This covenant with the
beasts and birds and creeping things will permit the Jewish people to lie down
and sleep safely. Right here notice Ezekiel
34:25, “And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil
beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the
wilderness, and sleep in the woods.”
Glory to God! Praise the
Lord!
[2] But notice also that the
Lord God explicitly states that He will “break the bow and the sword and the battle
out of the earth.” Men will no
longer hunt animals and birds for food as they do today. I highly suspect that the animals and birds
that we label as being “wild” today, will have that “wild nature” taken from
them, and both men and animals will go back to being vegetarians again, as they were before the flood in the days
of Noah. Then both men and animals and
birds will live in “peace” with one another again, as the Lord God originally
intended.
4
What
is SOON coming upon the earth!
Since the Lord God will make a covenant with the beasts of the earth and
the fowls of the air in
order to allow His people to lay down
and sleep in the woods in safety, it is also highly possible that the ability
for mankind to converse with the animals and birds will be restored. Will not that be wonderful? Are there any of our readers that have not
wished at some time or another that they could speak to their faithful pet dog
or cat and express their love for them, and know that their pet could
understand what they were saying? Are
there any of our readers who have not looked at the beauty of the coats and
manes of lions and tigers and cheetahs and bears and other animals and not
wished they could pet them or speak to them, or hold and cuddle and play with
their young offspring? How would you
like to have a beautiful tiger or lion or bear to walk along with you as your
dog or cat does now? And have the
ability to converse with them?
No, I haven’t lost my mind, and I’m not engaging in fantasy. I truly believe that all the enmity between
man and the animals and birds is going to be removed, so that there will truly
be “on
earth peace, goodwill toward men,” Luke 2:14.
The Psalmist was inspired to write, “But
the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance
of peace,” Psalm 37:11. Dear old
Prophet Isaiah was inspired to write, “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led
forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into
singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands,” Isaiah 55:12.
An
often asked Question…..
Dear readers, I
have preached in churches, revival efforts, Bible and Prophecy conferences,
Camp meetings, Vacation Bible schools, and various other meetings all over this
nation in past years (and would still
like to, health permitting). In these meetings I have often been asked, “Preacher, what will happen to my pet? Will my pet dog or cat be in Heaven? I love my dog [or cat] like my own child and
want so much for them to be with me in Heaven.”
Folks, what the
Word of God actually states about the death of animals is found in Ecclesiastes
3:21, “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the
beast that goeth downward to the earth?”
Notice that this book was written by Solomon, the wisest man who
had ever lived on the earth at that time in human history, and that he posed it
as a question. Not even Solomon knew the
answer to his question. However…..
I want to give our readers another passage from God’s inspired Word
which may or may not have a bearing on this often asked question. In Psalm 37:4 we are explicitly told to
“Delight
thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine
heart.” It appears to me that true
believers hold the key to what happens to their pets that they love so
very much. How much does the Lord God
really mean to you? How much of your
time, energy, money, and possessions are dedicated to loving and serving Him,
and studying and sharing His Word and witness with others for whom He
died? Search your own heart! Do you really “delight thyself in the
Lord?”
Do you really
believe His promises are faithful? The
inspired Word says, “For all the promises of God in Him [Christ Jesus] are yea [Yes], and in Him Amen; unto the glory of God by
us,” 1 Corinthians 1:20. Do you
believe this? How much do you believe
it?
If you really and truly “delight” yourself in the Lord,
doesn’t the inspired Word say that He will give you the “desires of your heart?” Well…?? Do you really believe it? Do you really want that beloved pet to be in
Heaven with you? Have you ever seriously
talked to the Lord about it? Folks, I
cannot give you a Scripture that says that your beloved pet will be with you in
Heaven. There is no such Scripture in
God’s Word, for the entire Word of God is concerned with the salvation of the
souls of men. Yet it does appear that true believers, through their own “delight” in the Lord, or
their lack of it, hold the key to whether their beloved pets will join them
in Heaven. Is it the desire of your
heart to have your beloved pet with you in Heaven? Then “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He
shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
This is all the answer I can give to anyone who asks me this
question.
However I cannot omit a personal testimony from this study. Are there cats and dogs in Heaven?
5
Several years
ago a young couple living in Columbia, Missouri had a precious three year old
daughter. I do not remember now what
happened to her, but she became deathly ill and was rushed to the hospital,
where her heart totally stopped beating.
She died! The doctors worked on
her feverishly and after seven minutes her heart started beating again. The doctors told her parents that her brain
had been deprived of oxygen for seven minutes and that if they were able to
bring her back, she would be nothing but a mental vegetable. Folks, doctors are not God and they do
not have all the answers. I wish a
lot more people would wake up to this fact today, and quit swallowing hook,
line, and sinker, all the medical propaganda your doctor tells you. After seven minutes the little girl was revived,
and she was perfectly normal. From that
minute she began to recover from her sickness and three days later was well
enough that she could leave the hospital and go home.
Now fast forward three months. The
little girl and her mother were eating lunch one day when the little girl
looked at her mother and with a wistful sigh said, “I sure wish I could see Jesus again.”
Her mother was astonished at her statement, but then quietly asked
her, “When did you see Jesus?” Her little daughter told her, “When I was so sick in the hospital.” Her mother then asked her, “What were you and Jesus doing?” The little girl replied to her mother, “We were just walking along talking. I was holding Jesus’ hand and playing with
the puppies. Then Jesus told me that I had to go back for a while, and I
woke up in the hospital bed.”
Folks, I don’t
believe for a minute that the Lord God is going to deprive His children of
those innocent and holy pleasures of this life that have been such a blessing
to us during this present life. Draw
your own conclusions.
Conclusion
Dear readers, I could go on and on referring to and quoting the poetic
prophecies of God’s Word that so thrill the hearts of true beleivers who read these passages. These prophecies give us just a glimpse of
the wonderful things that God has in store in the very near future for
those who truly love Him, 1 Corinthians 2:9; Ephesians 2:7. Seriously study the Word and
read these wonderful promises of God for yourself.
However, if any of our readers are not truly saved, then they are going
to miss all of these wonderful things the Lord God of Heaven has prepared for His
people. I admonish our readers, yea,
I beg any reader who has not received the Lord Jesus Christ as their own
personal Savior, to seek the Lord Jesus today for salvation. Time is running out for the lost to be
saved. Don’t put it off! Tomorrow may be just one day too late for you
to seek the Lord! Today is “the
day of salvation,” 2 Corinthians 6:2. Take
a Bible and carefully read, while asking the Lord in simple prayer for
enlightenment, John 3:16, 3:36, 5:24, 14:6, Acts 4:12, 16:30-31, 20:21, Romans
10:8-13, 10:17, Ephesians 2:8-10, and Titus 3:5. The Lord God
will save any person who truly desires His salvation and is willing to ask Him
for it in sincere prayer. Then, and only
then, will you be ready for our Lord’s SOON coming, and for the joys and
blessings He has in store for His people. Won’t you seek the Lord today?
I would like to meet every reader in glory when the Lord comes for His
people. Please don’t disappoint me.
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Permission is
granted to any true believer
or Bible believing Christian ministry to reproduce this study to share with
others, or to quote from it in context
as written.
This ministry is supported solely by the free will offerings of those
readers who believe themselves to be “led of the Lord” to help us send forth
God’s wonderful Word.
Please address all comments, questions, and correspondence to: Pastor
F. M. Riley, Last Call Gospel Ministry, 184 County Road 108, Harrisburg,
Missouri 65256, or to: fmr7sngn@centurylink.net
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