The Salvation of Animals:
Fact or Fiction?
Part 2

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Authored By  :
Bill Kochman

Published On :
June 30, 1997

Last Updated :
January 15, 2024


Prophet Ezekiel's Vision Of Four Winged Creatures, Physical Bodies And Spiritual Bodies, Animals In Heaven And On The New Earth, Flesh And Blood Cannot Inherit The Kingdom Of God, Flesh Is Flesh And Spirit Is Spirit, Is The New Earth Physical Or Spiritual In Nature?, Adam And Eve And The Lord In The Garden Of Eden, Jesus' Appearance After Resurrection From The Dead, Spiritual Beings Interacting With The Physical World, Multiple Planes And Dimensions Of Existence, Pauses In Prophetic History, The Word Of God Will Be Fulfilled In God's Way And In God's Perfect Time, Stories Of Journeys To Heaven, Visits To Heaven Or Visits To The New Earth, Prophet Elijah's Journey To Heaven, Jewish Mysticism And The Merkabah, God's Throne-Chariot In Ezekiel, Riding White Horses At The Battle Of Armageddon, Pegasus The Winged Horse And Ancient Legends, Our Beloved Pets In Heaven, God Creates Adam And Breathes The Spirit Of Life Into Him, God Creates Animals From The Dust Of The Ground Just As He Did With Adam, Man And Beast Are Not So Biologically Different, Man Was God's Final Creation During The Six Days, Physical Advantages The Animal Kingdom Has Over Human Beings, Before The Age Of Modern Technology, What Were Adam's First Impressions Of Eden?, Our First Reaction Upon Entering God's Kingdom, Adam's Reactions To The Animals And His Own Human Limitations, Our Desire To Imitate Abilities Of The Animal Kingdom, A Right Attitude Towards God's Creations, Man's Violent Oppressive Destructive Nature, Our Similarities To Animals, Animals Have Emotions And Are Not Led By Instinct Alone, A Vast Web Of Life, God Creates Eve From Adam's Rib


Continuing our discussion from part one, I am also reminded of the amazing winged creatures which were observed by the Prophet Ezekiel, and which are amply described by him in the first and tenth chapters of the Book which is named after him. Being as the description of these creatures is rather long, I will leave it to you to take the initiative to read those two chapters. If you are not familiar with them, you will be amazed by what Ezekiel saw. I also discuss them in articles such as the series entitled "Under the Cloud: UFOs and the Holy Bible".

In the previous paragraphs I have shared with you some of the many examples of animal symbolism which can be found throughout the pages of the Holy Bible. There are many other mentions of both physical and symbolic animals in the Word, which I hope you will take the time to personally discover.

In addition to the examples I have cited here, there are also examples to be found here and there in the Scriptures which seem to indicate that there are animals in Heaven -- or on the New Earth -- which have spiritual bodies. After all, if Jesus taught that God is a Spirit, and if Heaven is a purely spiritual place which is inhabited by spiritual beings, and if the Kingdom of God comes without physical observation, as Jesus also taught, then it stands to reason that if there are animals in Heaven and/or on the New Earth, then they must be spiritual in nature as well. Consider the following verses which seem to support this point:

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
John 4:24, KJV


"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
Luke 17:20-21, KJV


"There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
1 Corinthians 15:40-57, KJV


So, if, as the Apostle Paul writes, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God", I can only conclude that just as we will inherit new, spiritual bodies, any animals which exist in Heaven -- or on the New Earth -- must also be just spiritual in nature, and not physical creatures. In short, for many years, I assumed that the new heavens and the New Earth which we find described in the final two chapters of the Book of Revelation, and in other places in the Bible, are a real, physical place. However, in light of verses such as the previous ones, I am no longer absolutely certain of this. After all, why would spiritual beings -- whether God Himself, Jesus, the Angels and other Celestial Creatures, or saved souls -- require a physical place in which to dwell? As Jesus told Nicodemus, and later also told His Apostles:

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
John 3:6, KJV


"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
John 6:63, KJV


So many of us have somehow arrived at the conclusion that the New Earth is a physical planet. But what if it isn't? What if we have understood it incorrectly? We have this wonderful picture in our minds of the beautiful Heavenly City -- New Jerusalem -- descending down to the surface of the New Earth, or possibly hovering above the same. But again, if New Jerusalem -- which is the habitation of God Himself, who is a Spirit Being -- is really spiritual in nature, in my opinion, it makes a lot more sense for the City to descend to a spiritual New Earth as well, wherein dwell all of God's saved, spiritual children.

Of course, I admit that I cannot conclusively prove this point; and even I recognize that it is not a water-tight argument. Why not? Well, for one thing, we know from reading the Book of Genesis that long before Jesus Christ assumed physical form in the New Testament, He walked in the Garden of Eden in the cool of day. At least that is how I personally understand the following verse. As you read this verse, ask yourself why Adam and Eve would hide "from the presence of the LORD", if He was not actually there:

"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden."
Genesis 3:8, KJV


It sounds very much like Jesus was physically or spiritually in the Garden of Eden in some tangible form. If this is correct, then a Spiritual Being was enjoying the beauty of a very physical Garden on a very physical Earth. Another clear example which I have mentioned before concerns how the Lord appeared to the Apostles, allowed them to touch Him, and even ate and drank with them, following His Resurrection from the dead. So here again we see a Spiritual Being interacting with the physical world. I discuss this and related issues in the article "Sex, a Bowl of Soup, and the Nature of Angels". So my point is this: In certain instances, Spiritual Beings can interact with the physical world. That being the case, maybe the New Earth is a real, physical planet.

But am I personally convinced of this point? As I mentioned earlier, not any more. In fact, although I haven't mentioned it in any articles yet, I am even wondering if perhaps the new heavens and the New Earth already exist, and have in fact existed for some time now. For a number of decades now, more forward-thinking scientists and theoretical physicists have pondered the possibility of the existence of multiple planes or dimensions of existence, beyond the four dimensions we currently know. At this current time, some theories propose as many as ten or more dimensions. Central to proving these theories is the LHC -- or Large Hadron Collider -- which is located on the French-Swiss border.

As some of you may know, some theoretical physicists likewise propose the existence of multiple universes, or what has been referred to as a Multiverse. While these ideas regarding ten or more dimensions, and multiple parallel universes have not been proven yet, what if the new heavens and the New Earth now exist in one of these parallel dimensions? That is to say, in a parallel spiritual dimension. What if the Spiritual Beings who reside in that spiritual dimension are able to cross over into, and interact in, our physical plane? Isn't this more or less what Angels did in the Bible? Isn't this what Jesus also did following His Resurrection from the dead?

Quite frankly, other than the saving of human souls here on the physical Earth, it just seems a bit strange to me that God would pause prophetic history, and the fulfillment of His Word, as many Christians widely believe and are taught today. It is increasingly becoming my impression, based on my study of the Holy Scriptures, that God's Plan, and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, is an ongoing and continuous development. Furthermore, I suspect that the long pauses in time in some prophetic events -- such as the Seventy Weeks prophecy that was given to the Prophet Daniel -- may be the doctrines and opinions of misguided theologians and Bible teachers, who have applied such meanings to the Word, because that is what fits into their personal interpretation of the same. But what if they are wrong? What if the prophecies of the Bible did not just suddenly stop sometime during the First Century, and the new heavens and the New Earth already exist now in some parallel dimension or plane of existence?

I will be discussing these issues more at length in upcoming articles. Whatever the case may be, I am convinced that God will fulfil all of His Word, in His time, and in the way in which He deems most appropriate. Consider the following verses:

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"
Isaiah 46:9-10, KJV


"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
Numbers 23:19, KJV


". . . For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."
Psalm 119:89, KJV


"Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever."
Psalm 119:160, KJV


"The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations."
Psalm 33:11, KJV


This leads us to a related point. We often hear of people who claim to have gone to Heaven, or who have dreamed of going to Heaven. Whether or not they really have, I honestly do not know; but personally, I take such accounts with a huge grain of salt, because there are certain elements of their stories which do not seem Scripturally sound to me. However, if what they say is true, and if my theory regarding the new heavens and the New Earth already existing in a parallel dimension is correct, it has occurred to me that maybe these people have not really gone to Heaven, but rather to the New Earth. After all, as we discussed earlier, the Bible plainly states in the Book of Revelation that the Heavenly City descends to the New Earth, and that God the Father and Jesus Christ make their dwelling with the saved citizens on the New Earth, as we see by the following verses:

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."
Revelation 21:1-3, KJV


Returning to our main theme regarding there being spiritual animals in Heaven, a clear case in point concerns the Prophet Elijah's final minutes on the planet Earth, and how he was taken to Heaven. Many of you will be familiar with the story. Consider the following set of verses:

"And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces."
2 Kings 2:11-12, KJV


Is the previous account just a figure of speech, or perhaps the author's best attempt at describing something with which he was totally unfamiliar? It certainly does not seem like it. Some people have considered the possibility that this event might be a reference to some type of Celestial Craft, or what is commonly interpreted today as a UFO, or as a UAP, the latter of which means Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. In ancient Jewish mystic literature, this chariot-like vehicle is referred to as a "merkabah". In most cases, while this Hebrew word refers to a regular chariot, when it comes to Jewish mysticism, it is associated with God's throne-chariot, as described in Ezekiel chapters one and ten.

I include the same verses in the aforementioned series called "Under the Cloud: UFOs and the Holy Bible". While the author may be writing in a symbolic sense, his description does seem quite literal. If such be the case, these were obviously not physical flesh and blood horses as we know them. After all, horses cannot fly up into the sky, or be surrounded by flames and survive. Thus, I conclude that they must have actually been spiritual creatures.

As many of you will know, this is not the only place in the Bible where we find the mention of Celestial Horses. In the Book of Revelation, we discover that just as Prophet Elijah was taken up to Heaven by a chariot of fire which was drawn by horses of fire, so too, Jesus returns with the Host of Heaven for the Battle of Armageddon, riding upon magnificent white horses. Consider the following set of verses:

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean."
Revelation 19:11-14, KJV


This wonderful event sounds very similar to ancient legends regarding mighty godlike beings who rode upon winged horses. As you may know, even in the field of astronomy, there is a constellation called Pegasus, which is a starry image of a winged horse. Are these accounts in the Bible -- as well as other ancient myths -- simply highly exaggerated stories of something more mundane? Or is it possible that the authors described and wrote exactly what they saw? If they are very literal, then what a wonderful encouragement they should be for those of us who have lost our beloved pets due to old age, or due to other causes. After all, if horses exist in Heaven, then it is quite probable that other creatures can be found there as well. Perhaps someday we shall meet our beloved pets again; either in the Halls Of Heaven, or on the surface of the New Earth, or maybe romping in the streets of the Golden City called New Jerusalem.

But let's back up a minute to the beginning of our story. From what I understand from the Scriptures, animals have spirits just as much as we humans do. Stop and think about this for a minute: The Lord made Adam from the dust of the Earth. When he was first created, Adam was just a lifeless mass of flesh. In other words, while Adam was fully formed, he was not yet alive. Consider the following verse which proves this point:

"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
Genesis 2:7, KJV


Please carefully note that Adam didn't become a living soul, a living container or vessel, until God actually breathed into him His life-giving Spirit, His life force, a spark of energy from the Eternal. It is only then that Adam became a self-aware, conscious, thinking, fully-functioning, living being.

Now let us consider the creation of other animals. First of all, it is important to note that they were made before man. This tells us something interesting: When God formed Adam from the ground, just like from a mold, I suspect that He must have been repeating a process and method which He had already used previously to create animal life. If not from the ground, then from where else did animal life originate? Personally, I do not believe that the Lord just zapped them into existence. They came from the very same place as Adam. They came forth from the ground. Everything was made from the minerals of the very Earth itself.

If you doubt what I am saying here, then please consider the following group of verses. As you read them, in particular, notice phrases such as "Let the earth bring forth" and "out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field". That seems rather clear to me:

"And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so."
Genesis 1:11, KJV


"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."
Genesis 1:20, KJV


"And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so."
Genesis 1:24, KJV


"And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof."
Genesis 2:19, KJV


So as you can plainly see, everything, both man and beast, came forth and was created from the ground. In that respect, they are really equal. In the case of marine life, perhaps creatures of the sea were formed from the mud in the bottom of the worldwide ocean. Of course, being God, He could also have created them on the dry land and then transported them, still unconscious, to the water, where He then proceeded to breath the Spirit of life into them. The exact step-by-step mechanics is not really important insofar as our current discussion is concerned.

What is important here, is the overall process; and that is that similar to Adam, all animal life must have likewise had God's life force -- that is to say, His Spirit -- placed in them in order to make them alive. So then, what we have seen is that insofar as the creation itself is concerned, man and beast are equals, because they were created by the very same process, and they both originated from the very same place. That is to say, the ground.

Therefore, based upon the manner of creation, man is not so different from animals in a purely biological sense. Dare I say no better? Furthermore, as you may already know, man was in fact the very last thing that God created during those Six Days. As I will explain shortly, I believe the Lord may have had a good reason for doing things in that particular order.

If we really stop to think about it, in a physical sense, the animal kingdom outdoes man in many regards. For example, in speed, in the ability to jump, or to swim, or to fly, in strength, in natural defense mechanisms, in beauty, in the ability to camouflage, in navigational systems, in sensory perception, in reproduction, etc. No doubt some proud, vain people will take offense by my statement; particularly by the beauty part.

The truth of the matter is that in order to match or better any of these amazing qualities that we find in the animal kingdom, man has had to resort to both his intelligence and artificial means, without which he really is not such a fantastic being after all. That can be quite a blow to our human pride and vanity. I will be delving more deeply into this point in a moment.

If you are old enough to remember, just think for a moment of what the world was like even sixty or seventy years ago before we had all of our modern technology. As a matter of fact, go all the way back to Eden and consider some of the impressions and ideas which may have passed through Adam's mind and heart when the Lord first made him a conscious, living being. Naturally, I would imagine that he must have been overwhelmed by the beauty of the Garden of Eden: the vibrant life, the wonderful colors, the peace, the love he must have felt from and towards his Creator. It must have been a very powerful experience for Adam.

Undoubtedly, it will be very much the same for us Christians when we finally meet the Lord face-to-face, and behold with our own eyes, the beautiful Heavenly City, New Jerusalem, which God has prepared for those who love Him. I am certain that we will be breathless! We will be speechless! We will be totally floored! We will be awed out of our wits! This is a subject I discuss more in-depth in articles such as "This Little Light, Glory of the Lord and Our Bright Future" and "New Jerusalem: Heavenly City and Mountain of the Lord's House". I am reminded of the following group of inspiring verses:

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.‭ But God hath revealed ‭them‭ unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.‭ For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.‭ Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.‭"
1 Corinthians 2:9-12, KJV


To continue, as you will know, sometime after the Lord had created Adam, He gave him the responsibility of naming all of the animals. Think for a minute about what Adam may have possibly experienced as he explored this wonderful, amazing, new world, and gazed upon the myriad of life forms which God brought to him to name. Aside from the obvious wonder of it all, it has occurred to me that Adam may have possibly begun to realize his own human limitations. For example, as Adam gazed upon the eagle soaring way above his head in the sky, is it possible that he thought to himself, "Wow! I wish I could fly like that!"? Or when he saw the male peacock, or the beautiful butterflies, "Gee, I wish I had colors like that!" Or when he saw the speed and grace of the gazelle, or the cheetah, "Oh, if only I could run as fast as they do!" Or when he saw fish swimming in a lake or in the ocean, "If only I could hold my breath and swim under the water for a long time as they do!" Or when he beheld the strength of a gorilla, "Wow! What strength! If only I was that strong!"

To be honest, how many of us think similar things today as we behold the wonders of the amazing animal kingdom? I know that I have done so. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, it is because of these very normal and natural human desires to acquire these abilities which are possessed by the animal kingdom, that man has created such things as airplanes, boats, trains, cars, boats, SCUBA gear, paragliders, etc.

But concerning Adam, with each new animal that he named, it seems likely that he may have discovered a new limitation of his own. Perhaps he even become conscious of his own human shortcomings. Maybe he began to see his own lacks and needs. Surely, Adam must have begun to realize that he was not the strongest or the most powerful of God's creatures. He knew that there were many things which the other creatures could do which he could not do. It is my belief that this could be part of the reason why God made Adam last, and then brought all of the other creatures to him. Maybe God wanted Adam to understand his rightful place in this new world. He wanted to make sure that Adam had the proper attitude and respect for the rest of creation. That is to say, a humble attitude. As the Apostle Peter writes in his first Epistle:

Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock."
1 Peter 5:3, KJV


While the previous verse is obviously referring to shepherds and their spiritual flocks, I believe that the same attitude and lesson can also be applied to the kind of relationship that the Lord wanted Adam -- and by extension, us as well -- to have with His other creations. In our day and age we have such a high and mighty opinion concerning ourselves. It is really sickening. But as I mentioned earlier, take away all of our false trappings of modern technology, and we become rather weak and helpless. We like to think that we are so much better than the rest of God's creation because of our level of intelligence, but are we really that much better?

As I point out in the article "Science and Technology: The Forbidden Knowledge?", a brief look at our history of wars, at our destruction of the environment, and at the current level of worldwide oppression, poverty and famine due to greed and unscrupulous politics, will quickly confirm to any open-minded individual that we are the most violence-prone, destructive, oppressive and wasteful creatures upon the face of the planet! Of course, humanists and Dominionists do not like to hear this kind of talk.

If it were not for the fact that we are made in God's image, -- that is to say, with two arms, two legs, a head, a torso, two feet, etc., plus with a higher intelligence -- we would be exactly the same as the rest of creation. Just like them, we eat, we sleep, we play, we fight, we kill, we teach and protect our young, and we live socially. At least some of us do.

In fact, as you may know, we are learning more each day how each animal species has a language of its own with which it communicates with its peers. We are also learning how some of these creatures are much more intelligent that what was at first realized. Contrary to outdated ideas, animals are NOT ruled merely by their instinct as some proud people like to insist. Animals actually do learn from their experiences. They also know how to make decisions. They have emotions, including love, fear, loneliness, sadness, caring, etc.

Whether we are a human being or other mammal, reptile, fish, or amphibian, we all share some of these same common traits. Even the insect world shares many of these characteristics. We are all part of the same vast web of life; and just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so too, the web of life is only as strong as its weakest strand. Could it be that we are that weak strand, the one chosen by God to support and dominate the entire web?

In spite of the fact that Adam was created by the very hands of God, we know that he was every bit as human as the rest of us today. He possessed the very same pride and self image that we all possess. I wonder if things would have been any different if God had created Adam BEFORE all of the rest of the animals. So then, after allowing Adam's pride and vanity to be humbled a bit by the greatness and beauty of the other creatures in the Garden, after Adam had come to understand his own true nature, that is when we are told that the Lord made Eve from his rib. As we read in the Book of Genesis:

"And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."
Genesis 2:20-23, KJV


Please go to part three for the continuation of this series.

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