Grief

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What Happens To Dogs When They Die?

We recently lost our four-year old reddish-brown Miniature Chihuahua-Poodle mix named Sweety. She was my friend. She was a family dog. She died of heartworms. We did not give her the preventative heart worm medicine, and the treatment was too late. It broke our hearts. I asked the Lord what happened to her?

One impression in my mind as I was seeking Him was that He made her. I didn’t create her. In Genesis chapter one beginning with verse 24 we read, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” And He saw that it was good!

As I looked through the Scripture I considered a passage that I had looked at before in Romans chapter 8. Beginning with verse 19 it says, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

The creature was made subject to vanity or corruption. In other words, creatures had to die as a result of the fall of mankind. However, it says that the creatures will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. That means that the creatures will be delivered from death.

Now we know that there will be a new heavens and a new earth for the old heavens and earth will be destroyed. In Revelation chapter 21 beginning with verse one it declares, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Now what about the animals?

In Second Peter chapter three and verse 10 it says “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” What animals would be remaining after the first earth is destroyed by fire?

If the creatures will be delivered from bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God it appears to speak of a future redemption. Some might argue that there will be new animals rather than redeemed old ones. These “new” animals would not be delivered from the bondage of corruption because they never would have experienced bondage in the first place. In order to be delivered from bondage you have to first experience the bondage. If Adam and Eve had not eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they never would have been in bondage.

As I wept over the death of our little dog, I was reminded that God loves people more than I loved that little dog. He sacrificed His Son for us. Moreover, His Son purchased redemption for us. According to Romans chapter 8, that redemption appears to include His creatures. Otherwise we nullify part of Scripture. In short, God doesn’t throw away something that He calls good. If it has been corrupted, He redeems it!

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