Our Future with Animals During the Millennium Kingdom

And Our Responsibilities Now

When Christ Jesus rules on the Throne of King David in Jerusalem, the curse will be removed from mankind as well as from the animal kingdom and environment. The Millennium Kingdom will be the closest experience to the Garden of Eden that anyone of us will share together.  In our glorified bodies here on earth we will see firsthand where, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.  The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” (Isa 11:6-7)

This genuine setting will be commonplace during the Millennium Kingdom which will primarily be agriculturally based.  God designed Adam to be an earth dweller.  In our new glorified bodies we too will experience earth dwelling during the Millennium Kingdom while having unbarred access to heaven. We will have unique assignments many of which were given to us by Christ Jesus at the Bema Seat.  After the 1000 years of the Millennium Kingdom we will subsequently experience the New Jerusalem here on earth which becomes yet another new and even better setting for us. 

In the garden Adam was a vegetarian and he was a steward over the animal kingdom.  There was no violence towards the animal kingdom and this was God’s original blueprint.  “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.” (Gen 1:29)  Not only was Adam a vegetarian but the animals were too.  “Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.” (Gen 1:30)

This was God’s original design for both man and beast prior to sin entering the world through Adam’s trespass.  In fact, most scholars agree that it was God’s intention to have Adam cultivate and extend the beauty of the Garden of Eden throughout the world to reflect His glory.  Sadly, sin did enter the world and this exquisite project was lost.  God still prohibited the eating of meat until Noah.  The flood occurred due to God’s judgment on depraved mankind but God allowed Noah and his family, eight people in total, to both survive and rebuild with new dietary permissions. (Genesis 9:4), and Exodus 34:26   The reasons for these new dietary permissions are not disclosed by scripture so we can only speculate.  Some biblical scholars believe God allowed meat eating at this point to prevent the potential for cannibalism.  

God doesn’t command any believer to eat meat nor does God command anyone to become a vegetarian.  All of the dietary restrictions and legalistic requirements under the Mosiac Law were abolished at the Cross.  Basically, a Christian can eat whatever he wishes although many Christians eat only kosher in observance of Acts 15:29 “ You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.  You will do well to avoid these things.”  We chose this article by Karl Butt, MDiv in helping to interpret this specific scripture.  We also realize that there is much debate over this same scripture. 

On a separate note, God does require us to be sound stewards over our human body because we do not own our body. (1 Cor 6:19)  The believer’s body belongs to the Lord.  With this in mind, a Christian should have a sustainable diet that nourishes and heals.  A quality diet should be void of synthetic chemicals and processed foods.  Believers should ponder the benefits of purchasing meat, dairy and eggs from local farmers who observe sound animal husbandry practices from a godly standpoint.   Christians should also be careful of gluttony as well.  

A particular author has been heard on several Christian networks promoting a variety of his diet books.  His name will not be disclosed.  He has actually stated that God commands Christians to eat meat.  This is not true.  God does not command believer’s to eat meat.  This same doctor has strong financial ties to both the dairy and cattle industries which leaves a discerning audience to believe that scripture has been twisted by him for the sake of financial profit.  He also tells his audiences that the vegetarian diet lacks the appropriate nutrients despite that fact that many vegetarians eat eggs and dairy which provide ample B12 and proteins.  Vegans, on the other hand, are considered as being some of the healthiest people on earth.  Once again, the legalistic dietary laws were abolished at the Cross. 

Although we cannot experience the Millennium Kingdom at this point in time, this does not dismiss God’s people from taking their rightful place as active stewards over the animal kingdom right now.  Nor does it dismiss the fact that every single believer has a responsibility to himself and God to confirm that his food is unadulterated from harmful ingredients and that the animal was reared using the highest standards in the animal husbandry system.  Believers in Christ Jesus are to be the restrainers of evil in society which includes stewardship over the animal kingdom even the ones that a believer might eat.

It’s important to remember that we are stewards not owners of God’s animal kingdom.  The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.”  (Psalms 24:1)  Everything belongs to God.  We own nothing.  Therefore we need to be very careful how we address all animal welfare issues in this generation.  

Many Christians confuse the meaning for the word “dominion”. “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  This decree was given to Adam by God before sin entered the world and prior to the first death of an innocent animal which resulted because of Adam’s sin.  The meaning of dominion carries a godly responsibility of stewardship not one of exploitation by oppression, cruelty or blind neglect for convenience’s sake or gross profit void of humanity towards animals or to excuse oneself from responsibility.  God is never interested in our excuses regarding any stewardship issue.

A pastor once said that when God killed the first animal it was representative of God’s approval for animal research.  This is a hollow and unbiblical interpretation of Genesis 3:21.  Most reputable bible scholars would agree that the first animal killed in Genesis was representative of Christ’s crucifixion.  Nor do we know God’s method of killing the animal.  Even after the first animal death – God did not permit any eating of animal flesh until Noah.  Scripture declares that Christ Jesus is “the lamb which takes away the sins of the world”.   While Christ Jesus hung from the Cross – holy blood was spilled.  Scripture states that innocent blood must be shed for the remission of our sins therefore the animal’s blood was simply a copy and shadow of Christ’s Crucifixion to follow.  Please see our article on “Why You Need Jesus”.  Let us not adulterate the purity of Christ’s sacrificial offering of Himself by introducing God’s approval or disapproval of medical research when much of its ethics and practices are currently in question.  Let it be known that in a meeting on June 4, 2013, which focused on federal funding for science, the former (NIH) National Institutes of Health director Elias Zerhouni admitted that experimenting on animals has basically failed and proven too expensive.  “We have moved away from studying human disease in humans,” he lamented. “We all drank the Kool-Aid on that one, me included.  With the ability to knock in or knock out any gene in a mouse—which “can’t sue us,” Zerhouni quipped—researchers have over-relied on animal data.  “The problem is that it hasn’t worked, and it’s time we stopped dancing around the problem…We need to refocus and adapt new methodologies for use in humans to understand disease biology in humans.”(1)   Therefore, when the people who fund and practice animal research finally admit that animal research doesn’t work – the argument ends right there.  In turn the pastor’s interpretation of scripture that supports animal research is completely debunked.  

Another bible teacher once said that “God will judge those who senselessly harm an animal”.  He gave the distinct impression that we are not to take any action to restrain the evil but instead that God will judge the wrongdoer in the hereafter.  This is true but sadly this same teacher did not let his congregants know that both he and they share a joint responsibility not to allow senseless pain and cruelty to be imposed on animals in the here and now.  We are not to be complacent while evil runs rampart but instead we are to be active restrainers of evil.  We are to take action as God’s ambassadors here on earth to restrain cruelty despite the social injustice and that includes animal welfare.  We ask that you take the time to view all of the social injustices mentioned on this website.

 VIVESECTION OF A PUPPY