Noah, the Ark, and the Covenant as a template - Part 1 (#9 in a series)

The Genesis account of Noah's life leaves no debate that God makes provision for "every living creature of all flesh," even as He is hitting the Creation-Reset Button by flooding the planet.
Noah's story does not directly promise that a believer's unique and specific pet goes to heaven, but it reveals so much of God's character, demonstrates His regard for animals, and even establishes such an inclusive covenant that I am going to make this prediction:
   — Once you are familiar enough with Noah's story that you can get a glimpse of God the way Noah knew God,  it will be far easier to have faith that pets can be in Heaven than it would be to believe God thinks an animal's life is disposable.

I'd encourage you to read Genesis chapters 6 through 9 to get a feel for the full sweep of the story.  Admittedly, I am going to be cherry-picking the parts of the story that show either (a) how God's treatment of animals demonstrates that animals are an important element in God's plan for Mankind, or (b) that the parabolic theme of surviving a physical flood points toward God plan for survival of souls.

But before I go there, two New Testament writers will help point us to what we are looking for—

2 Peter 2
Again, I'd encourage you to read the entire chapter. After an initial warning to be on guard for false teachers, Peter says the godly will be delivered, using Noah as an example. The chapter concludes with one of the most detailed analyses of the profane who choose to reject God in the entire Bible.

Here is a list of some of the verses from 2 Peter 2 germane to our study:

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6-8 (more examples of Lot, Sodom, and Gomorrah)
9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

Here is a good insight into the immutable, unchanging character of God: "did not spare, but preserved"
Here is a second: "the Lord knows how to rescue"

Here is a list of some verses from 2 Peter 2 that are problematic to our study:

12 But these (the self-willed), like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,
22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit."

A superficial reading of those verses could make it seem like animals are born to be captured and killed. But in context with the earlier verses, it is clear from the use of the words freedom, slaves, enslaved, and entangled in verses 19 and 20 that the "captured and killed" refers only to those who are in rebellion against God. Indeed, verse 12 puts a qualifier on "what kind" of animals; unthinking, unreasoning, irrational, or brute beasts, depending on the translation. 

Now this is why it is so important that we correctly discern the "Dominion Mandate" covered in #8 of this series. If man's dominion over animals was made null at the fall, then when a pet overcomes its natural instincts and recognizes a human as one who has authority over it, all it counts for is that you have a cooperative pet. But, if God's decreed word for man's dominion over animals is still valid, then a pet that chooses to submit to its owner is not an unreasoning animal, but one that has chosen to submit to authority. 

We need to be clear here. I am not claiming that a pet chooses to honor God by submitting to a human's authority. That is adding more than the scripture can support. But we can see that when a pet recognizes the authority of its owner, it is acting in a way that God desires.  At some level, the pet has submitted its will to the God-ordained authority over it, and willingly fitting into that Godly order brings God glory, even if the animal is unaware of it. Furthermore, it is an act of the animal's will, and having a will indicates a soul. The proverb Peter quoted in verse 22 was being applied only to the rebellious that were operating on an instinct level. A dog that chooses to obey a "No, stay!" command instead of following its instinct does not return to its own vomit. 

Again, we need to be clear.  Humans don't always obey God's commands perfectly, and we are not expecting perfect compliance from a pet either.  But compare 2 John 1:6, And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments.  Love is demonstrated through an obedience that honors authority. Showing love indicates a spirit. This concept will be addressed in more depth at the end of this series, but for now let us lay this foundation: Our salvation is dependent upon our exercising free choice to honor the Lord as our Authority.¹ 

Jude 6
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—

At first glance, this passage may seem to have little to do with the Flood and even less to do with pets in Heaven. My main reason for including it comes from holes that I discovered as an adult in the narrative taught to me as a child. The standard Sunday School teaching I received about the flood went something like this: Man was wicked. God decided to wipe out mankind, except for Noah, who was the last true righteous person loyal to God. God tweaked the natural forces to cause a flood. 

This passage from Jude indicates that his view of Genesis 6-9 is radically different than the one that I was taught. Apparently his audience of contemporary, first-generation Christians who were setting out to make disciples of all nations saw it differently too. Most notably, they were seeing not only a physical world judgment, but also a judgment occurring simultaneously in the supernatural.  And THAT is how it relates to our Pets in Heaven—the physical events in Noah's story have supernatural implications.  

The angels that both Peter and Jude are referring to, who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper place, are the 'sons of God' from Genesis 6:2,4 that were identified as one of the reasons that God decided to have a flood. 

I am going to digress into the Book of Enoch,² for a bit. The Book of Enoch was dropped from canon, but is still useful as a history book. We can be pretty sure that Peter and Jude had read it because they either paraphrased or quoted it directly in their writings. To summarize—

Two Hundred angelic beings called The Watchers³ made a pact to take human wives. They knew they were opposing the Lord Most High by procreating with human women, but they decided to do it anyway, and the offspring were the nephilim giants.  They also taught their wives things which God had intended to be kept secret, about the art of metal working-to make weapons as well as jewelry, how to make and use cosmetics, how to make recreational drugs from plants, about sorcery, astrology, and, curiously, how to make mirrors. Enoch 8:2 says, "Impiety increased; fornication multiplied; and they transgressed and corrupted all their ways." 
Five angels loyal to the Lord Most High, (named as Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Suryal, and Uriel,) saw the corruption, violence, and bloodshed increasing on Earth and asked the Most Holy God if they should do something. God's response was to send a messenger angel to Noah to tell him about the coming flood and give him instructions about how to "conceal himself" in an ark. During the time that Noah was preparing the ark, God assigned Raphael to deal with the "lead teacher" of the secret knowledge by binding him hand and foot; casting him into darkness; and opening the desert which is in Dudael, to cast him in there. God sent other angels to entice the offspring of the Watchers, the nephilim, to fight and kill each other. So the Watchers saw their sons die, and then they themselves were bound underneath the earth for seventy generations.

Peter and Jude knew that there was a co-existant realm of corruption on Earth, that there was more going on than violent sex-crazed men rioting in the streets. Mankind had been polluted by esoteric knowledge from supernatural beings.  Having an awareness of Peter and Jude's broader perspective than what I got from Sunday school intensifies the contrast of what God did by electing to save animals on the ark. They were not only being saved from a world suffering from man's corruption, but they were also being delivered from the machinations of sinister supernatural entities. Literally and figuratively, God delivered animals for the next world. 

Genesis 6:1-8

Genesis 6:7 is one of the most disturbing verses in the Bible!  "The LORD said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.'"  

That New American Standard (NASB) version (which is usually my go-to Bible for its balance of staying literal and using contemporary English) certainly makes it seem like God regretted creating both man and the animals that man had dominion over, and God was ready to wipe them off the face of the Earth. The King James, God speaking, says "...for it repenteth me that I have made them."  

I have a childhood memory of a pastor squirming to give an answer for "if God is perfect, acts perfectly, and knows everything, why would He repent or be sorry for what He'd done?"  I don't remember what he said. It did not settle with my spirit and I have forgotten that part. But I do remember that here was a person I was told to look up to as an expert and he was faltering.  It was a lesson that I should probably remind my readers of:  If anything in this blog does not settle well with the witness in your spirit, ask God about it. And if you are still unsure, then put it on a shelf for awhile. I am not trying to convince you that I am right; I am simply blogging about my own exploration of the Pets in Heaven question. 

So here is where I am now— after researching other translations, other scholars' opinions, and looking up the Strong's listing for H5162, I think the King James got it right. Modern translations often use "regret" which points to sorrow or rue, but that is only half the picture conveyed by the word "repent."  Especially when hooked up with the previous verse 6:
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
you quickly notice the phrase is "it repented the LORD," and not 'the Lord repented.' The other half of the picture with "repent" relates to changing the course of action. If a person does not change his/her ways, we question if they were truly sorry, but when they change the direction their life was headed, we see the results and say that person's repentance was genuine!  "Repented" fits here because the Lord surely changed the course of direction for Mankind, and it is worth noting that man got to take his animals with him! 


In Part One of  "Noah, the Ark, and the Covenant as a template," we have shown that God's purpose for judgment by flood was far more involved than the obvious punishment-factor for man's wickedness.  We see that the Bible points to a supernatural component for the flood, even though it does not go into detail. It was important to lay the groundwork for this idea with Peter and Jude, the two New Testament witnesses, because unless you've been part of an in-depth Bible study or searched it out on your own, "the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them" can seem pretty disconnected from "reasons to build a boat."  But in Part Two of  "Noah, the Ark, and the Covenant as a template," we will be able to see God's plan to deliver man and animals from what was, in a sense, an alien invasion of immortals who corrupted society with knowledge that did not acknowledge the Lord God Creator.


 


Footnotes

¹ In post #6 of this series, I did an "Ask the Experts" article where a mix of theologians from different backgrounds had come to the conclusion that pets will be in heaven. The parallel here between human recognition of God's authority and an animal's recognition of human authority was used by some to draw their conclusions. 

 ² click to read the Book of Enoch online or to download a copy to Kindle.  Chapters 7-10 are about the flood. 

³ The Bible is written to men to reveal God on the Earth, therefore it does not go into depth about supernatural entities. It speaks of cherubim, seraphim, host, and watchers as being in an angelic class of created beings. The term "watchers" referring to an angelic order is found in Daniel 4:17, and possibly in Jeremiah 4:16. The watchers were to observe men, and they were able to make decrees.