https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B084NT5GN3/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=neil+cullan+mckinlay&qid=1581396701&sr=8-2
Pets
I wrote the
following verse of Scripture inside the flyleaf of the first Bible I ever
purchased after being converted to Christianity, ‘Who provides food for the
raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?’ Job
38:41. This verse touched something inside of me. I had a pet crow when I was
young. We used to do everything together as I’d play on the hills and in the
woods overlooking Loch Lomond. I raised it by hand after it had been orphaned
and I had found it wandering around. I would feed him. Not quite as exotic as
Long John Silver’s parrot, but he would sit on my shoulder. Occasionally, he
would sit on the back of my Border Collie/Labrador cross and peck the back of
his head while he held onto the dog’s collar. Pets are wonderful when you are
young and when you are older. I remember how difficult it was to have our
sixteen-year-old blind, deaf and incontinent Sydney Silky Terrier put down. My
wife and I were reduced to tears at the vet’s.
When we think of
pets in Scripture, we immediately turn the parable the Prophet Nathan told
David when he was having an adulterous affair with a woman whose husband he
just had killed. The parable was about a rich man and a poor man. ‘The poor man
had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and
it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank
from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.’ 2
Samuel 12:3. The rich man, who had flocks of sheep of his own, took the poor
man’s pet lamb and slaughtered it to feed a visiting traveller. Unknown to
David until he was ‘sprung’, the picture was that of David with all his kingdom
and all his wives taking poor Uriah’s wife. David as it were hanged himself
when he responded to the parable in anger, ‘As the LORD lives, the man who has
done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because
he did this thing and because he had no pity.’ 2 Samuel 5b-6. How must the
family have felt who had lost their pet in this way? How must the Father have
felt when the Lamb of God was taken by evil hands and slain by an adulterous
generation?
The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
accomplished what the Bible calls ‘the times of restoration of all things’
(Acts 3:21a). The climax of these times when ‘God will wipe away every tear
from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There
shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’ Revelation
21:4. Are our dead pets included in the restoration? First off, notice that it
is God who is going to restore fourfold, not us. That’s grace! But what about
my pet crow? What about all the pet dogs I ever owned? Pet goldfish? Pigeons by
the score? Budgies? et al. What about all the beautiful paintings and works of
art that have been lost over the centuries for that matter? The bottom line is that
the devil will have no victory!
Sure, unlike
humans who have been made in the image of God, animals wild or domesticated are
not souls. However, ‘For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He
might destroy the work of the devil’ 1 John 3:8. The Son of God has destroyed
the works of the devil, but has the devil destroyed the works of the Son of
God? No! For surely it all will be restored on the Last Day. We know that there
will be animals dwelling with us on the (re)new(ed) earth. Why not our pets
too? For ‘Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and
wander about for lack of food?’
No comments:
Post a Comment