Who is in heaven? Do our pets go to heaven?
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The Bible teaches us about a place called “heaven.” The word “heaven” sometimes refers to the sky such as in Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Sometimes, the word “heaven” refers to the place where the sun, moon, planets, stars, and other heavenly bodies exist. “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained” (Psalm 8:3). The Bible also speaks about heaven being a spiritual place. Hebrews 9:24 says, “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” So who is in heaven?
First, God is in heaven. “But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases” (Psalm 115:3). In Matthew 6:9, Jesus told us to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven….” Solomon declared, however, that the heavens could not contain God. “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27). This is because God is a spirit (John 4:24). He cannot be contained in one place.
Second, Jesus Christ is in heaven in the presence of God. “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24). He is sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. First Peter 3:22 says of Jesus, “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.” There He serves as our High Priest. “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Hebrews 8:1).
Third, the angels are in heaven. They are before the Father’s face. Matthew 18:10 says, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” They ascend and descend from heaven. “And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51). They are subject to Jesus Christ. “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him” (1 Peter 3:22).
The saved will be in heaven after the judgment. “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord’” (Matthew 25:21). First Peter 1:4 says, “to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” First Thessalonians 4:17 says, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
Will our pets be in heaven? There is no Bible verse that speaks about literal animals of any kind being in heaven. Isaiah 11:6-9 speaks figuratively about animals that are naturally in conflict getting along peacefully in the holy mountain of God, but this is a figurative representation of the peace that will exist in the kingdom of God, the church, and not representative of literal animals being in heaven. The Bible’s being silent on this issue means that we don’t know one way or the other.