QUESTION: Thanks for your question: Do you know in scripture where it supports that pets and animals will be in heaven.
ANSWER: I know of no Scripture that suggest that pets or animals will be in heaven. Animals are real in Scripture as well as often used as metaphors. So one has to be careful to build a theology around a metaphor as something that is factual. So when Scripture says that outside the New Jerusalem there are dogs (Rev. 22.15) the author is not referring to real dogs. This is a metaphor as shown by who these “dogs” are.
One further comment. There is a misconception in popular theology that when a Christian dies he/she goes to heaven. Scripture does not teach such. It is almost completely silent on the subject. The best we should say is that eternity begins when a person meets Jesus in this present evil age. Eternal life continues after we leave this body. N. T. Wright is found of saying that there is life after life after death. There is a point in the future when the resurrection occurs and believers inherit their resurrected body, between physical death and resurrection, Scripture has little to say. One thing is clear, there is nothing in Scripture that supports a “free spirit” without a body after physical death. At some point in the future, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. That is where eternity future will be played out.
