The only information that anyone can definitively and accurately give regarding any religious question is limited to what is revealed in the Holy Scriptures – the Bible. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV). In the absence of biblical evidence for the presence of animals in heaven, therefore, one cannot confidently affirm that animals will inhabit heaven.
Furthermore, heaven is a spiritual place in which spirits or souls dwell. The only exception presently is Jesus Christ who through the incarnation took on a physical body, too. However, not only was His body changed and adapted to habitation in heaven, but the bodies of the righteous at the end of time will also be changed and fashioned for a home in heaven where spirits dwell. “Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:21).
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:50-53)
Still further, Scripture teaches throughout the Bible that humans possess more than an animal spirit. Unlike the animals, humans where fashioned after the image of God (Genesis 1:26) – a spirit-being without a physical body. Hence, mankind is a dual being, possessing a body like the rest of the animal world, but at the same time possessing a spiritual soul. Jesus Christ prepared heaven for habitation by we who possess the inner man or image of God, that is if we are deemed righteous at Judgment (John 14:1-3; Matthew 25:31-46).
No mention of a heavenly dwelling place for animals appears in Scripture. Animals were not created with souls within them. Animals are not the object of Gospel preaching, whereby souls can be saved and preparation can be made regarding a heavenly dwelling. There is no reason to conclude that animals will be present in heaven. Yet, the comfort afforded the saints in heaven will be adequate to console everyone from every imaginable concern (Revelation 21:4).
