Heaven
Bible Question: Animals, pets in heaven? Jesus comes from heaven riding on a white horse, which I am sure doesn't have a soul, why can't there be any other animals in heaven? Baby's have souls but are unable to voluntarily receive the gift of salvation and yet, if die, will go to heaven, why not animals?
Answer: Many are not aware that the Bible teaches two salvation's. In brief, Christians are called to follow in Jesus'
footsteps by sacrificing their earthly aims, wills and ambitions and all future earthly rights and resurrection hope, that
they might gain a greater, higher reward. The Scriptures teach if we give up all to follow Jesus, and we do so faithfully unto
death, we are promised a spiritual reward. That is, to be resurrected with a spirit body like Jesus was resurrected with. That
reward also includes being associated with Jesus in his Kingdom Reign when he and his bride, The Church shall bless all the
nations of the earth with all truth and peace and love. Revelation 20:4,6
The second salvation applies to everyone
else that has ever lived all the back to and including Adam. They shall be resurrected back to the earth to receive the
blessings God has always intended for them through the Christ, Jesus and the Church. Isaiah 35:5-10
This will be the
answer to the prayer so oft prayed "Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven" Matthew 6:10
Not understanding
these two salvation's taught by the Scriptures has been a great source of confusion for almost all of Christianity. Those who
realize it can be the only answer to harmonizing the word of God and study it out for themselves find this Truth to be a great
door to understanding many other truths intended only for those God has desired to call.
The "Divine Plan of the
Ages" Volume One of "Studies In The Scriptures" proves these truths from ones own Bible in a topical study outline. It's available on our website or you can read it on line.
As for animals, there are many Scriptures telling of animals in the kingdom on earth. They are not spirit beings in the
Spiritual Kingdom but grace the earth in God's earthly Kingdom.
Will pets from the past be brought back to life? The
Scriptures do not say, and there is no promise of any animal resurrection shown.
Bible Question: Can religion and church membership help you go to heaven?
Answer: Accepting Jesus as your savior is the way to gain salvation. Gathering with those " of like precious Faith" will be
a means to assist you to be faithful. No Scripture teaches us to have a church membership. 2 Pet 1:1-3 But the Scriptures do
admonish Christians to have close fellowship around the Bible teachings. Acts 2:42, 1 John 1:3 Jesus said, " I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6. Jesus told us to follow him (not a Church
organization or a man). Luke 9:23 Paul, one of the twelve appointed apostles, admonished Christians to only follow him to the
extent that he followed Jesus. 1 Cor 11:1 Paul also reminded the Christian to remember that Jesus was the authority for the
Church. " Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is
Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" 1 Cor 1:12-13
The " Christian Church" is not made up of memberships in specific denomination(s) but is a " little flock" (Luke 12:32) that
has been gathered by the Lord from around the world over the last 2000 years since its founding at Pentecost as recorded in
Acts. " There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.." Eph 4:4 The True Church is
made up of those called and consecrated to His Cause. Rom 8:17, Psa 50:5 The Bible encourages the " called" to seek
fellowship with likeminded: " Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest
(Jesus glorified) over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Heb 10:19-25
We encourage you to seek fellowship with those who point you to the Scriptures and follow the examples set up by our Lord at
the First Advent and recorded in the Gospels and book of Acts. The Bible Study book entitled The New Creation is a place for
you to begin a study of Christian fellowship and the teachings set forth in the early church. Study 5, "THE ORGANIZATION OF
THE NEW CREATION", is a good place to start a personal study. htdbv5/htdb0143.htm
Bible Question: What will be our identity in heaven?
if there is no marriage in heaven, will people who have passed away know us,
or we them?
Answer: The character of every person who has ever lived still exists in the mind
of God, even the very minutest
features of it. And, therefore, when in his
own time God creates another body, and stamps it with all the lines of
that
character just as it exists in his memory, and awakens it to life, instantly
that character (identity)
will recognize itself. And it will be recognized
again by former friends and acquaintances from whose memory it had not
perished.
Thus the Lord Jesus recognized himself when his character was transferred
from a spiritual body to a body of flesh as
the babe born in Bethlehem.
When Jesus died and his identity was completely lost to himself for three
days,
Jesus' character still existed in the memory of God. As soon as God
transferred, from his memory to an actual,
glorious, divine body, those
mental characteristics, our Lord Jesus recognized himself again-with the
same
love for God, the same devotion to his great work, the same love for
the fallen human race, the same tender love and
solicitude for his
followers, every one of whom then living he remembered personally and
distinctly. The
accounts of the resurrection teach that, before he ascended
into heaven, Jesus appeared in different forms (a gardener
to Mary, a
stranger on the way to Emmaus, etc). In all cases, Jesus' friends
identified him, not by his
appearance, but by his actions and mannerisms!
Only for Thomas's sake did Jesus appear in a representation of his
familiar
earthly body. Jesus chose to do so to help strengthen Thomas's faith in the
fact that his Master who
had died on the cross was now alive. "I am he that
liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore..." Rev 1:18
The promised changes in the resurrection discussed in 1 Cor 15:20-22, 35-49
will not destroy either memory or
identity. The power of God will be fully
realized in the resurrection work just as it was witnessed in the
resurrection of Jesus.
Because God promises a restitution of all, the tomb is spoken of as a great
' prison house,' in which the captives of
death await deliverance. Acts
3:19-21; Isa 42:5-7 Though dissolved in death, the identity of each being is
preserved in the mind and power of God, and will be reproduced in due time
by resurrection power. But the Church and
the world are promised different
resurrections. The faithful followers of Jesus are promised a part in the
"first resurrection" as Jesus experienced. "Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection...they
shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and shall reign with him a thousand years." Rev 20:6.
For everyone else who has ever lived, they will awaken from death during
"Christ's thousand year reign". It will be a
resuscitation to practically
the same conditions-mentally, morally and physically-which they had before
they
went into the tomb. From that beginning, each will have the
opportunity to gain perfection as they "go up the Highway
of Holiness"
during the Kingdom Age with the assistance of the "priests of God and of
Christ". (Isa 35)
We hope you visit the following cites to study more about the preservation
of the identity in the resurrection and the blessings awaiting all in the
resurrection to come.
The comprehensive Bible study book entitled THE DIVINE PLAN OF THE AGES,
addresses the subject in study 10: "Spiritual
and Human Natures Separate and
Distinct" at: htdbv5/htdb0077.htm
Further study on the subject is embedded in Study 13 entitled "Hope For Life
Everlasting and Immortality Secured by
the Atonement" in the Bible study
book entitled: THE ATONEMENT BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.
htdbv5/htdb0134.htm