ANIMALS WILL BE JUDGED BY GOD

GOD’S COVENANT IS WITH ANIMALS AS WELL AS WITH MAN

–  Mary A. LaClair

I’ve gotten so much activity on my DO DOGS GO TO HEAVEN article that I decided to see what others had posted on the same topic. Some think animals will not come before the judgment seat of Christ and therefore will not, or could not, pass into heaven, being without Christ.

I intend to dispel that theory by using Scripture itself, this time in Genesis chapter nine. Other Scripture references have already been noted in the article DO DOGS GO TO HEAVEN, which may be found by clicking this link.

I’ve read Scripture for over thirty years and the full impact of Genesis 9:1-17 seemed to elude me all those years; however, when reading these verses in the past I wasn’t concerned about connecting animals with Heaven. Now I see what I missed before.  

We all are probably so familiar with the Genesis account of the rainbow that we think we know what’s there. As a result, we skim it so quickly that we miss the rest, even when it’s not hidden. Could it be because we don’t really want to see more than just what applies to us as humans? I’ve had another one of those times when ‘the lights come on’, and I’d like to share that moment with you. Here is the Genesis account of the rainbow. If we read it with animals in mind, new things necessarily come to light. The emphasis within and following are mine.

Gen 9:1-17

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.

7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “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, all those that came out of the ark with you–every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring  clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”  (from New International Version)*       

What do you see in verses 5; 9-10; 12; 15; 17 concerning animals?

In verse five, does it not say that He will require a reckoning of every animal as well as man, if they kill a man?

In verses 9-10 and 17 does it not say that He establishes His covenant with every living creature – not just man – and in verse 5 that He will demand an accounting from every animal for the lifeblood of a human?  Will animals such animals  face judgment? We are told here, that, yes, they will. What do these verses say about animals as well as man? It would seem we are all in this together and that God has covenant even with the animals and all living creatures of every kind on earth.

For those people who have thought that animals have no need for Jesus Christ and therefore won’t be in heaven because only those with Christ will enter: animals will be judged; and animals DO praise God, and therefore WILL be there:

“Even the wild animals will honor me: jackels and ostriches will praise me when I make rivers flow in the desert to give water to my chosen people.”  Isaiah 43:20 NLT

What have you learned about animals from these verses?   

For more information on this topic see the article DO DOGS GO TO HEAVEN as listed in the right column.  Also see: WILL MY HORSE BE IN HEAVEN?

Added more recently on this site WWW.LookListenThink.wordpress.com is link to an article from a British Veterinarian about not trusting dogs or pets with babies/children, we think it is worth the read and it may be found herein titled GOOD DOGS GONE BAD.

https://looklistenthink.wordpress.com/category/animals/dogs/good-dogs-gone-bad/

The article on KILLING MICE IN MOUSETRAPS   might also be of interest as it establishes a balance and should be of interest as it relates to verse 2 of chapter 9 of Genesis, as seen above.  

As an aside: while the verses about the rainbow are before us, let’s briefly reflect on it also:  When I used to see a rainbow, I thought that God was reminding us that He wouldn’t again destroy the whole earth by flood. This could lead to complacency.

Now, however, when I see a rainbow I think that God is getting fed up with mankind so  that He tells us He is reminding Himself. And this should stir us out of complacency and move within us a desire not to anger a righteous God. I think that the Christmas tsunami in Thailand (2004); Katrina Hurricane in New Orleans immediately followed by Rita only weeks later (2005); the earthquake and great tsunami in Japan (2011); Hurricane Irene in NE-US (2011); and SuperStorm Sandy in NE-US (2012) immediately followed by a snowstorm before power was restored, are evidence that God is losing patience with mankind, and destroying part of the world by water; but, that He is reminding Himself that He said that He wouldn’t ever do it again to the whole world as before. See article JAPAN – A WARNING at this link.

I see much food for thought here, for both God’s love for man, in that He judges even animals who would harm us – and His anger with mankind for disregarding His rules, to the point that He toys with the idea of total destruction again, rather than put up with us.   

Let us try to get on His love side – and stay there!

Romans 8:19-22

^19” For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. ²⁰ Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹ the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.   ²² For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”    New Living Translation  emphasis mine.

P.S.  I’d like to refer readers to another site about dogs and animals in heaven – a lovely story in Guidepost’s Angels on Earth magazine on-line – it i a warm story, and the comments from their readers which follow their article are most interesting.

“…Multiply, Subdue The Earth, and Have Dominion”

…MULTIPLY… AND SUBDUE THE EARTH…and HAVE DOMINION

– Mary A. LaClair                                                    

The History Channel, I love the History Channel.  The other day they had a program dealing with large landowners in England. Did you know that they are required by law to do population control on rabbits as a part of managing their estates?

Here in America we are required to meet some rigid building codes, so, I was all right with pest control in England; it was interesting watching the ferrets at work helping to keep a balance in nature.

We should always remember that the Bubonic Plague, which killed literally thousands upon thousands of humans in Eastern Europe, was due to overpopulation of rats which carried infected fleas, which in turn gave the bite of death to thousands of people.

Population control in rodents and animals is necessary. This is why God has told us to have dominion over the animals of the earth:

Gen 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”   KJV  (emphasis mine)

Using ferrets, farmers are able to save much of man’s food supply and vegetable crops from being totally destroyed through an over population of rabbits. This is the meaning of the old term ‘to ferret out’.

While we might not ferret out rabbits, population control of pests is still necessary, especially of those kinds that invade our homes and gardens. It is said that for every one rat or mouse that we see, there are ten that we don’t see. I think everyone should be concerned with this. I do not feel transporting them elsewhere fulfills the “subdue the earth” mandate but instead permits them to multiply and then return in unseen dangerous hordes to man’s territory because of dwindling natural food supply for their large numbers, or even to move in on vacant buildings and city slums to spread disease.

Rodents had been getting into our attic, and spending the winter there, damaging storage items through gnawing and chewing; even removing insulation to make nests. Dangerous side effects are that feces and corpses turn into airborne dust; and, if they chew insulation from wires it creates a fire hazard. Even in the basement, plants wintering there were rootless in the spring, having become food for wandering rodents too lazy to dig winter burrows outside as they should, eating the roots of wild plants and weeds.

Animals do have instinct which could be described as the voice of God to animals. Birds hear it and know when to fly south in winter, and when to fly back north for breeding season. Bears and turtles hear it and know just when to hibernate. I think that they listen to God better than man does sometimes. Wild animals have a natural fear of man, I’m sure they are told not to go near man’s habitation; but, just like mankind, there are animals that disobey. A peaceful Utopia will come in its time; but not in this age!

Genesis 9:2 “The fear of you (speaking of mankind) and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered.” 

Until then, squirrels, chipmunks and mice that disobey, by forfeiting their natural habitat for that of man’s, will not have dominion over me and my household. To let errant rodents live with me destroying my goods and my house is to give them dominion over man. That’s not going to happen at my house.

Some women prefer to use poison bait; they don’t have to look at dead bodies that way, and I wonder, who are they fooling but themselves? Creatures feeding on carrion then risk becoming ill from residual poison, and it could affect the chain of nature.  I think it is selfish and self deceptive that people would rather something suffer days from the effects of poison rather than have them not know what hit them just because they may wish to deny killing something and having to bury it. When a corpse is not buried, it remains to smell up a house for weeks, or to putrefy outside further creating and spread air-borne disease.  Dead things need to be buried for health reasons. That is why I believe that a body trap is best.

I was setting a mousetrap when one of the grandchildren popped in. “What’cha doin’ G-Ma?” they ask.

“Well, I’m setting a trap for naughty rodents scurrying around in the attic.”

“You’re killing some of God’s creatures?”                                          

“Yes, but just the disobedient ones.”

“The death penalty for one act of disobedience?”

Could she be getting worried about some of her own single acts of disobedience?

“They carry disease and are a pest when they interfere with man’s place on earth, and it’s not just one act of disobedience, it’s a lifestyle when they stay in my house and start destroying things inside, and crops outside.”

” Take a lesson, don’t get used to a lifestyle of sin, children. Take a lesson from the animals. Hear and obey God. Stay on the straight and narrow, and if you wander, get back quickly to the right path where you belong.”

They probably thought they were getting a lecture; I thought they got an educated, unabridged answer to their question.  I continue:

“In the meantime, I will obey and have dominion over my little corner of the earth and subdue it; even if it means trapping naughty mice, squirrels and wayward chippys; they are not really human, regardless of what popular movies and cartoons may lead children, and some adults, to think. I will not let wayward creatures subdue me, for that is not the way. God tells us to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and have dominion over the creature. Right now, I only take dominion over aggressive ones who invade my territory. Animals do the same thing.”                                                                          

“Umm, my Daddy uses peanut butter.”

(clip art courtesy of ClassRoomClipArt)

P.S.  Attending a gathering where a Bee-Keeper gave a presentation on his hobby, I learned that a bee may sting another insect and live; but if a honey bee stings a mammal even once, the bee dies.

I guess God believes in the death penalty, too; well, He instituted it after all if we stop to think about it.  See article ANIMALS WILL BE JUDGED BY GOD.

Genesis 9:5 “For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.”