Jesus Please Stop Animal Suffering
An all-creatures Bible Message

Jesus Please Stop Animal Suffering
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
28 June 2015
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Psalm 66:18
Isaiah 11:6-10
Jeremiah 11:11
Mark 5:21-43
John 14:13-14
Romans 8:19-22

Jesus please stop animal suffering is something that truly compassionate children of God are entreating the Lord to do.
 
We pray this way, and we hear from other people all the time who pray this way, too, but we see only very slow changes in this direction, and more and more animals seem to be suffering and dying every year.
 
It seems like there are two sets of conditions that God uses in answering our prayers.
 
Think about what we are told in John 14:13-14…

13. "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
 
14. "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
NASB

This sure seems to say that God should be answering our prayers to end the suffering of animals without delay, much in the way that He did with the daughter of Jairus, as we are told in Mark 5:21-43…

21. And when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, a great multitude gathered about Him; and He stayed by the seashore.
 
22. And one of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up, and upon seeing Him, fell at His feet,
 
23. and entreated Him earnestly, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, that she may get well and live."

Jairus’ prayer is as much an expression of his faith in the Lord’s power and love as it is an earnest request for Jesus to heal his daughter.
 
So what does Jesus do?

24. And He went off with him; and a great multitude was following Him and pressing in on Him.

But at the same time something else was happening…

25. And a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years,
 
26. and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse,
 
27. after hearing about Jesus, came up in the crowd behind Him, and touched His cloak.
 
28. For she thought, "If I just touch His garments, I shall get well."

This is also an expression of her faith in the healing power of Jesus.

29. And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

This is an immediate answer to her prayer for a healing, which is exactly the intent of the John 14 passage we read above, but she never actually spoke anything to Jesus, yet her silent prayer was answered.
 
This is proof that God does hear our silent prayers, and is well aware of everything that is going on.

30. And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My garments?" 

We believe that Jesus really knew, but said this as a way of letting the crowd know that God does answer the intent of the heart in matters like this.

31. And His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude pressing in on You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?' "
 
32. And He looked around to see the woman who had done this.
 
33. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him, and told Him the whole truth.
 
34. And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your affliction."

If Jesus knew all these things, then He must know of the horrible suffering and death of over 100 billion animals every year, and even though He answered the silent prayer of this woman, He doesn’t seem to be answering our prayer, “Jesus please stop animal suffering.”
 
Therefore, there must be more involved in these major issues than involved in the more personal issues such as healing this woman.
 
But what about Jairus’ daughter?

35. While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?"
 
36. But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid any longer, only believe."

In other words, there is a lot more to God’s healing power than meets the average human’s personal understanding of the heavenly will of God.

37. And He allowed no one to follow with Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James.
 
38. And they came to the house of the synagogue official; and He beheld a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing.
 
39. And entering in, He said to them, "Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep." 
 
40. And they began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child's father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was.

Loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God quite often face this same kind of mocking when they speak out against the horrible suffering inflicted upon animals, and that we should all be eating only the compassionate plant foods God created for us to eat and not eat or wear animal products.
 
But Jesus waves off this mocking…

41. And taking the child by the hand, He said to her, "Talitha kum!" (which translated means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!").
 
42. And immediately the girl rose and began to walk; for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.

Why are people so astounded at the power of God?
 
Instead, we should expect to witness these and smaller things all the time.

43. And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this; and He said that something should be given her to eat.
NASB

God doesn’t do these things for notoriety; He does these things because it’s the natural way of God.
 
This is an example of how God should be responding, if we only look at a passage such as John 14:13-14 that we talked about previously, but there are other passages that seem to indicate that there is much more involved in reversing the corruption of creation which includes our prayer: “Jesus please stop animal suffering.”
 
In Psalm 66:18, the psalmist says something very profound…

18. If I regard wickedness in my heart,
The Lord will not hear;
NASB

We believe that this is true of all personal prayers, which is why we keep encouraging people to repent and become peacemaking children of God who live in the heavenly will of God.
 
Additionally, we believe that this also applies collectively to our society, and why the Lord doesn’t seem to be answering our prayer, “Jesus please stop animal suffering.”
 
Because our society has enormous wickedness in people’s hearts and souls, as witnessed by the warring madness and the tortured remains of animals that they eat and wear, God will not listen (or act upon our prayers), even when some of us are praying, “Jesus please stop animal suffering.”
 
This is also what Jeremiah is telling us in Jeremiah 11:11…

11. Therefore thus says the LORD, "Behold I am bringing disaster on them which they will not be able to escape; though they will cry to Me, yet I will not listen to them.
NASB

The Lord won’t listen because the hearts and souls of the vast majority of the people in our society are still filled with wickedness.
 
This is exactly the way the world is today with the corruption of creation, for instead of collectively working to end the corruption of creation, most people continue to live in the corruption and contribute to it, by going along with its wicked ways, which is most evident in the horrible suffering and exploitation inflicted upon billions of animals.
 
This is why Paul tells us in Romans 8:19-22…

19. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
 
20. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
 
21. that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
 
22. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
NASB

Even though some of us are true peacemaking children of God, there doesn’t seem to be enough of us at the present time to make a dramatic difference in the world, or to have God end the suffering Himself.
 
And we also have a confirmation of this in Isaiah’s prophecy of the peaceable kingdom; note what we are told in Isaiah 11:6-10.

6. And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the kid,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little boy will lead them.
 
7. Also the cow and the bear will graze;
Their young will lie down together;
And the lion will eat straw like the ox.
 
8. And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den.
 
9. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
As the waters cover the sea.

Then in verse 10, we are given the reason why this is not happening to any great extent.

10. Then it will come about in that day
That the nations will resort to the root of Jesse,
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.
NASB

The “root of Jesse” is a poetic way of saying God, and because the vast majority of the people in this world have not repented of their wicked ways and returned to God, He has not acted upon our prayer, “Jesus please stop animal suffering.”
 
Nevertheless, we cannot give up, or even lessen our efforts to end the exploitation of animals and the warring madness, for we are making continual headway.
 
We just need to keep the pressure on until we can finally “tip the scale” in the direction of compassionate living.
 
We can do it.
 
Amen.

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