Will I See My Dead Dog Again
Our family dog, Boots, died a few days ago. He was a good dog, a behemothic, slobbering, super-friendly, food-stealing behemoth. When we first saw him he was with a litter of pups in the back of a steel trailer on a farm in Texas. He was lying in the food dish, on top of the food, to keep the other pups from getting what he thought was rightly his. We adopted him and gave him a good life for xiii years. He was fiercely loyal to his two boys. He kept our yard rubber from raccoons, possums, and all other fashion of ferocious Ohio wildlife.
If you lot've always lost a pet, peculiarly one you've lived with for a long fourth dimension, yous know how hard information technology is. Our pets become like members of our family. They go office of the rhythm of our lives. It's going to be strange walking in from work in the evening without being bombarded by a hundred pounds of unfettered canine amore. For our youngest son in item, losing Boots volition be hard. Boots was his friend, movie-making companion, competitor for pretzels and cookies, and sometimes a equus caballus or a tug-of-state of war opponent.
Is Boots gone forever? Will we ever meet him again? I think all of us who have lost beloved pets would similar to know that, in expiry, they are taken into God'southward providential care. Does God care about our pets? Does God care for animals in such a way that, like the states, they will accept life in the historic period to come?
For John Wesley, the answer was a definite yes. His sermon "The General Deliverance" shows he certainly idea that the animal world would partake of God's redemptive new creation. Wesley had a soft spot for animals, which is not surprising since he was a generally compassionate person who spent most of his time on horseback. He believed that, in the globe before the Fall, animals and humans lived together in harmony. Today, however, things are different. Amidst both animals and humans nosotros find violence and savagery. While some animals demonstrate peachy ferocity, moreover, the cruelty of people far surpasses that of any other species. "The panthera leo, the tiger, or the shark, gives [man beings] pain from mere necessity, in order to prolong their own life; and puts them out of their pain at once: Merely the human shark, without whatever such necessity, torments them of his gratuitous choice; and maybe continues their lingering pain till, afterwards months or years, death signs their release" (II.6). We've all come beyond these "human sharks" in our lives.
Christians, however, believe that God volition make all things new, and that in the historic period to come there will exist no more than violence or cruelty. That is as true of animals every bit information technology is of humans. Recall of Isaiah'due south vision of a future peaceful kingdom:
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall prevarication downwardly with the kid,
the dogie and the lion and the fatling together,
and a niggling child shall pb them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the king of beasts shall consume straw similar the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned kid shall put its mitt on the adder's den.
They volition not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the noesis of the Lord
equally the waters encompass the sea (11:6-9).
The Peaceable Kingdom, by Edward Hicks
God's perfect future is not just for people. It is for all cosmos. As Paul writes,
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its ain volition only by the volition of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself volition be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the liberty of the celebrity of the children of God. Nosotros know that the whole cosmos has been groaning in labor pains until now" (Rom 8:19-22).
In God's time to come, things volition be different. It's not only humankind that will be be made new. Everything will be made new. As we read in Revelation 21:5: "And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' Likewise he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'"
Wesley took these passages to heart when thinking about the eschatological fate of the animal globe.
Merely volition "the animate being," volition even the creature cosmos, always remain in this deplorable condition? God foreclose that we should affirm this; yea, or even entertain such a thought! While "the whole cosmos groaneth together," (whether men attend or non) their groans are not dispersed in idle air, but enter into the ears of Him that fabricated them. While his creatures "travail together in pain," he knoweth all their pain, and is bringing them nearer and nearer to the nascence, which shall be accomplished in its season. He seeth "the earnest expectation" wherewith the whole animated cosmos "waiteth for" that concluding "manifestation of the sons of God;" in which "they themselves likewise shall be delivered" (not by annihilation; annihilation is not deliverance) "from the" present "bondage of corruption, into" a measure of "the glorious liberty of the children of God" ("The General Deliverance," III.1).
And when in Revelation we read, "[God] volition wipe every tear from their eyes. Decease will be no more; mourning and crying and hurting will be no more, for the first things have passed abroad" (Rev 21:iv), Wesley believed that this was truthful no less for animals than for humans. God volition take away all suffering, all sadness and pain, for our furry friends as well as for us.
Oh, and by the manner, Pope Francis made a similar comment recently. He probably got the idea from Wesley. 🙂
To those who would say that reflection on the ultimate fate of animals is an idle task, Wesley had a clear response. Reflection on God'due south love for all creation "may encourage us to imitate Him whose mercy is over all his works." Such reflection "may soften our hearts towards the meaner creatures, knowing that the Lord careth for them. It may enlarge our hearts towards those poor creatures, to reverberate that, as vile as they appear in our eyes, not one of them is forgotten in the sight of our Father which is in heaven" (Three.10). When we think about the grapheme of God, we contemplate such unbounded love every bit to affect our ain thoughts, words, and deeds.
So, aye, I miss the heck out of Boots. Just I also believe that God'due south honey and grace are for all creation, not simply for people. When your beloved pet dies, take some condolement. God's got this. God'due south futurity is happier and more perfect than we can always imagine.
Source: https://davidfwatson.me/2018/04/16/my-dog-just-died-will-i-ever-see-him-again/
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