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by GLENN PEASE
03/13/18
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Based on Johan 4:11

      Henry Bergh was the founder of the American Humane Movement, which about one hundred and thirty years ago brought about the first child protective laws in this country. He drew attention to the case of Mary Ellen who was beaten, and the chained by her parents. This led to laws being passed. Very interesting is the fact that Mr. Bergh was also the lawyer who brought about the first laws for the protection of animals. He linked children and animals together in his compassion, for both have the same problem. They are innocent and helpless victims of the cruelty of the adult world.

     This attitude which brought about the humane societies of the world did not have its origin in man, however, for the Bible makes it clear that God is the author of all the principles upon which humane societies are founded. Here in the book of Jonah we see that God also links children and animals in His compassion. Like children, cattle are innocent of any rebellion against their Creator, and God has no delight in the slaughter of the innocent. God has pity even upon the cattle. What a precious word of assurance, for the Old Testament times were often so violent and bloody, and so great was the destruction that it is easy to doubt if God really cares for the innocent. But here is His own testimony to the fact that He does care for children, and even cattle.

     We have here a valuable insight into God's tenderness. Some may feel that preaching on cattle and God's concern for animals is irrelevant, and unworthy of pulpit time. If that be so, you only reveal how little you know of what God has revealed about Himself. If we believe in the verbal inspiration of the Bible, then we must agree that all of its words are important. There are 143 references to cattle in the Bible, and literally thousands of references to other creatures of God's creation. To say that all of this is irrelevant, and mere fill, is to accuse God of doing a third rate job in revealing Himself.

     I think you will be amazed at just how relevant animals are in Scripture as we take God's concern for them seriously, and see how they are linked with man in all of God's dealings. The first thing we want to observe is how children and animals are linked together in Scripture.

I. CHILDREN AND ANIMALS.

     We need not look at every reference, but only at example of the types of reference. In Deut. 3:19, after God commanded the men of valor to pass over and conquer, he says, "But your wives, your little ones, and your cattle (I know you have many cattle) shall remain in the cities..." Cattle were, like the women and children, to be kept a safe distance from battle. There are other references to this as well.

     In the Ten Commandments we see that God is not just concerned that men get rest on the Sabbath, but He cares for the health of animals as well, and so He includes them in His Sabbath law. Duet. 5:14 says, "But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your man servants, or your maid servants, or your ox, or your ass, or any of your cattle...." Who cares for cattle? God does, and so much so that He is the author of the first laws for animal protection. There are many more, but for now we are only looking at how animals and children are linked together.

     One of the most vivid passages is Isa. 11:6 where we see the ideal of universal peace where God will reign supreme, and children and animals are friends." The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them." Usually this text is quoted in reference to children leading adults, but we see that it is really about them leading animals. No society is pleasing to God where children and animals are not protected from cruelty. God cares about what man does to His creation. Man was given dominion over all animals, but they are not to be mistreated. William Cowper put it this way, The sum is this: If man's convenience, health, Or safety interfere, his rights and claims Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs; Else they are all, the meanest things that are, As free to live, and to enjoy that life, As God was free to form them at the first, Who in His sovereign wisdom made them all.

     Cruelty and useless killing of animals is contrary to a biblical faith. The greatest example of a child linked with the animal kingdom is, of course, the Christmas story. "The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes." God intended to link the Christmas story with animals or His Son never would have been born in a manger. Who can imagine the Christmas story without animals? There are no shepherds without sheep, nor could the wise men have come without their camels. You can no more remove animals from the story of the incarnation than you can from the story of Noah and the Ark.

      Animals had been substituting for men for centuries as sacrifices for sin, but now the Lamb of God has come to offer Himself once for all, and thus deliver man from sin, and animals from being sacrificed for sin. But we are jumping ahead to the cross, and we need to get back to the crib. Frederic Marvin wrote a book in 1912 called Christ Among The Cattle. He felt that it was no mere accident that God should descend to this level of humility so as to be born in a barn. God not only cares for cattle, he is not ashamed to have His Son be born where they are born. This fact leads us to a consideration of our second point.

II. SALVATION AND ANIMALS.

     The Bible links man and animals together from beginning to end. When man is blest of God, animals share in that blessing. On the other hand, if man is judged, animals also suffer judgment. Adam named all of the animals of Eden, and there was a good relationship between man and the animal kingdom. When man fell, animals were immediately affected in that they needed to be killed to provide clothing. We read that they soon were used for sacrifice, and that would not have been necessary if man had not sinned.

     Then there is the flood. God saved animals as well as man from destruction. After it was all over God made a covenant, not just with Noah, but with the animals as well. This is emphasized 5 times over in Gen. 9:8-17. Let me read verse 9 which reveals clearly that God included all animals in His covenant. "Behold, I established my covenant with you and your descendents after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you...." Who cares for cattle? God does, and He even makes promises to them, and includes them in His covenant.

     We have already seen that God included animals in His Sabbath law, and we see that cattle are saved in the book of Jonah along with the Ninevites. We see Him saving them in the ark, and later we see the animals being saved from Egypt along with the Israelites as they are delivered. The big question then is this: If God included animals in His saving plans in the Old Testament, does He also include them in His plan of salvation in the New Testament? In other words, will there be animals in eternity? There is no reason to doubt that they will be. A new heaven and a new earth would be lacking something without the handiwork of God in the animal world.

     In Rom. 8:19-21 Paul indicates that the whole creation of God will enter into eternity, and be set free from all the effects of sin. He writes, "The creation waits with eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." Paul is clearly saying that God's plan for eternity includes His whole creation. There shall be total victory for all, and this includes the animal kingdom which has suffered the effects of sin also.

     God would only be following a pattern that He followed all through history. In Ex. 12:29 we read that at the Passover, not only was the first born of Egyptians killed, but also the first born of all the cattle. Man and his animals stand together in blessing, or in judgment. Ex. 9:3-7 tells us that none of Israel's cattle died. They were included in God's salvation of His people.

     Here in Jonah in 3:7-9 we see the animals were made to fast along with the people, and they were also covered with sackcloth. Men and animals stand together, or fall together. Many times when God's wrath fell in the Old Testament the command was that the cattle were to die along with the people. Many times also God's blessing on the people included a promise of much grass for the cattle. In Ps. 104:14 God is praised, "Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the cattle.." In Ps. 50:10 God says, "For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills." God is the biggest cattle rancher in the universe.

     When Jeremiah the weeping prophet wants to picture a sad setting due to his people's sin, he pictures the absence of animals. In Jer. 9:10 we read, "Take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone." When man is cursed, animals suffer. When man is delivered, animals are delivered too. Very definitely animals are involved in all that happens to man, and they always benefit by his salvation. In Ps. 36:6 we read, "O Lord, you preserve both man and beast." God is a very real animal lover, and He includes them in His plan. The third point we want to look at is-

III. SOCIETY AND ANIMALS.

     God's love and care for animals has social implications. Prov. 12:10 states clearly, "A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel." In plain English, no man can be pleasing to God who is cruel to animals. A righteous man is righteous in part because he, like God, is kind rather than cruel. Cruelty is s defect in man's character, and if a Christian is cruel to animals, he may dismiss it as no big deal, but God will not.

     There is, of course, the danger of having compassion for animals, and then lacking it for people. This is what happened to the Pharisees. They were all for helping some poor animal out of the ditch on the Sabbath, and they were all for leading it to water, but they did not delight in seeing a person being healed on the Sabbath. Their problem was not that they loved animals too much, but that they loved people too little. They majored on minors, and this is not wise. But neither is it wise to dismiss minors. Just because we are not to major on them does not mean we should not take them seriously.

     Persons are to be our major value and emphasis as Christians, but concern for animals is also our responsibility. The fact that they are secondary does not make them unimportant. We often speak of dumb animals, but though they cannot speak, they can develop a loving relationship with man that is superior, at times, to what man has with God. God begins His complaint to His people through Isaiah in Isa. 1:3 with these words: "The ox knows it owner, and the ass its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people does not understand." We are know that a dog can be more loving, grateful, and joyful toward its master than a believer is toward God. Man can fall to a level lower than the animal, and he usually does so when he loses his compassion for animals and becomes cruel.

     Nero, when he was a youth, took great pleasure in tormenting animals. He would cut off their feet, or clip the wings of birds, and smear tar on them, and then set them on fire. That was the beginning which led him to delight in the torture of men. Let a child learn to despise God's lower creation, and when he is older, he will despise God's best and highest. On the other hand, the best way to teach a child to love is to teach kindness to animals. We can't give all the proof there is for this, but I am convinced that Frederick Martin knew what he was saying when he said, "The man who kicks dumb brutes kicks brutality into his own heart."

     Some animal lovers go the opposite extreme and make animals almost equal to people. I do not doubt it is legitimate to pray for a pet that it might be healed, just as we would pray for a loved one. John Chrysostom, the golden mouth preacher, said, "Assuredly we ought to show a great
humanity and mercy towards beasts for various reasons, and especially because we may thus learn to have compassion and mercy, since they have the same origin as ourselves." The Jews pride themselves on being humane. Jacob Raisin in his book Humanitarianism Of The Laws Of Israel says, "Judaism was the first to become a mouth for the dumb. Judaism from the start insisted upon fair play not only between man and man, but also between man and beast."

     Abraham's servant in looking for a wife for Isaac made it a testing point that she must be kind to his camels. A good wife will be tender toward animals. We could look at how the laws of Israel gave animals rights and protection, and even demanded that they be slaughtered in the most painless way. In the New Testament the Gospels have 40 different Greek words denoting animals, and Jesus used camels, sheep, and birds in His teachings. He called Herod a fox indicating He knew the character of animals. He proclaimed the kind of Messiah He was by riding into Jerusalem on a colt rather than a horse. 24 times in Revelation He is called the Lamb. Jesus always put people above animals, but He also made it clear that He cares for animals. We have only scratched the surface of this subject, but the answer to our question is clear. Who cares for cattle? God does, and Jesus does, and if we are filled with His Spirit, we will too.

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