The Fathers heart is bursting with love for each and every creature in his creation. God doesnt only love people - he loves animals too. Certain waifish theologians would disagree, but not Francis of Assisi, who is recorded as passionately loving animals as fellow inhabitants of Gods wondrous creation, and the love exuding from him for them would often draw birds to come and land on his shoulders and sing, beasts to come up to him with affection, and people to marvel at the sight. And his love for animals is a biblical one: animals possess not only a body, and a soul (Heb. Nephesh, translated as life in English, but meaning Soul in the Hebrew), but also a spirit (Gen. 1:20-26, Heb. 3:21, Prov. 12:10). Paul says that the whole creation earnestly waits for the resurrection of the dead, when the sons of God will be made manifest, because they were made subject to death, not willingly, but rather by Adams sin, and by his subjection of all the world to his dominion of death (Rom. 8:19-23), which dominion Jesus came to abrogate with his own dominion of life, wherein the lion will lie down with the lamb, and the serpent will play with the child (Isa. 11:1-10). Yes, the Lord is a lover of animals as well as people, and while he didnt need to die for any animals sins (save perhaps the poor serpentine dunce who was unwittingly deceived by Satan into misinforming Eve), he did what he did to rescue them also from the clutches of death. Because of Adam they died, and because of Christ they will live (Acts 3.19-21, Col. 1:19-20). We see also that God said to Noah that he could use any animal on the earth for food to sustain himself (Gen. 9:3-4), but this came almost a millenium and a half after creation, and the world had vastly changed in such a way that a new dietary system had to be developed in order to easily sustain humanity, since much of the originally available plant life had been washed away by the flood. This was not a callous decree by God, because even in this decree he declared that it is not permitted for us to consume the blood of the animal, and also we can see that it had not been permitted before the flood had transpired. No doubt this is because of three reasons: first being that God had originally created the animals to, like Adam, live forever; secondly because their lifespans before the flood would have been much longer, and it would have been cruel to take it from them before they had lived out their fullness; and thirdly, because the environment was so radically different and there was no need for animal food, because of the richness of the vegetation. I used to feel bad about hunting, until a hunter explained to me that these animals will not live very long anyway, and that a quick death to a hunter was no more miserable than a slow, grueling one to nature. But God created every living being to live forever, and not until brought death on himself and all that belonged to him did they die. They die because of Adam, but they will live again because of Christ, in the resurrection. A hardened spirit strains at such a statement, because to them an animal is insignificant and only an unfeeling brute. But man, being made in the image of God, was given dominion over a world, with many creatures in it which bear great resemblance (and are fashioned in the likeness of) the heavenly beings who reside above with God, so if we truly wish to be like God in this world, we must consider the lives of the beasts, looking on them with as much possible consideration and feeling as we can, as God looks on his beloved angelic friends in heaven, and also remembering that there was One who saw us when we were thoughtless brutes without feeling, and yet gave his life for us, though our form of life was much greater than his, even taking on our own frame and flesh to redeem us. Praise be his name. Let us be compassionate to all of Gods creatures as much as we can, and thoughtful, treating them with dignity and kindness, and should we find it needful to dedicate them to the purpose of sustaining ourselves, let us not be condemned because that right has been given to us by God in his wisdom and by his judgment, and they will return again into a far greater life than ever before, when that blessed One returns from heaven to rule in righteousness here on this earth. Yes, the righteous man cares for the soul of his beast, that is the beasts feelings, and so he should, because the One above cares for our feelings, though we be far inferior to him in every way, and the scriptures say that precious is the death of his saints to him (Psa. 116:15), so let us be no better than him in that the death of the beasts be precious to us, for whatever reason it must come. It is truly a valuable indicator of a Christians state of heart, the manner in which they treat an animal. I can say with certainty, that God will raise again every animal, bird, fish, bug, and even every flower, tree, and blade of grass, to live forever in his glory, because when he created them, he created them with life, and intended for them to live forever, and so He who restores all things and makes all, not merely some, things new (Rev. 21:1-7), will certainly restore them to that state which he originally intended and desired for them, which was only marred by that which was against his will and desire: sin. While some people may believe that animals do not have souls or spirits, the Bible says otherwise, and to say that God would not give life again to that which he gave life with the intent of it possessing it forever, which creature lost that life through no fault of its own, is to say in a certain sense that God is not good at all. But God is good, and he will give life back to that from which it was taken away, and will make all things new, forevermore. Amen. Be thou comforted, little dog, Thou too in Resurrection shall have a little golden tail -- Martin Luther
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 09:49:19 +0000
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