Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Will Even Spiders Be on the New Earth?

Will Even Spiders Be on the New Earth?

Last updated on: June 11, 2026 at 11:02 am by Randy Alcorn

0 Comments

Will Even Spiders Be on the New Earth? 2026-06-01T11:06:27-08:00 Randy Alcorn

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A reader wrote me, “You say in your book Heaven that God will refashion the animal kingdom on the New Earth. But surely you can’t believe there will be rats, spiders, and insects, and other creepy animals, such as mosquitoes? That sure wouldn’t be Heaven for me!”

Asking how rats and spiders and insects could possibly be on the New Earth is like asking how they possibly could have been in Eden. The point is, they were, and it didn’t diminish Eden, but somehow enhanced it. We’ve never seen insects as they once were, and as they yet will be. (I’ve met some pretty strange and unappealing people, and I’ve been one myself from time to time, but that doesn’t mean people won’t inhabit the New Earth—just that they’ll need to be changed.)

Consider spiders—creatures I admit I rarely appreciate, especially in their larger forms. Yet the intricate designs of their webs reveal something remarkable about them and their Creator.

Spiders operate on instinct, but they adjust web size and spacing to available space, vary thread thickness, and orient webs in response to light and wind. When damage occurs, they repair rather than rebuild, reinforcing weak points and strengthening areas subject to greater impact. No two webs are identical. Spiders are not blind automatons; they exhibit creative adaptability.

Their engineering skills are astonishing. Spider silk, a God-given material that engineers struggle to replicate, absorbs immense impact without breaking and is stronger than steel relative to its weight. Different silks serve different purposes—egg sacs, draglines, and structural support—revealing sophisticated design and purposeful execution.

Spiders also learn from experience, avoiding past failures. Some even create decoy replicas of themselves to deter predators. Remarkably—and this seems more than instinctual—they sometimes appear to sacrifice efficiency in favor of greater aesthetic beauty. If humans behaved this way, we would call it more than instinct, wouldn’t we? Why underestimate their remarkable natures simply because they are small and—in this post-Eden and pre-New Earth world—frightening?

If you encountered a web with its geometric artistry without knowing spiders existed, you would marvel, wondering what human made them, and how. Whether we or spiders themselves appreciate their work, surely their Creator does. I’ve watched sunlight catch a web in a gentle breeze, transforming it into something breathtaking.

“The leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:6-9).

Mosquitoes? Why not? If lions will no longer be carnivores, which we are told in Isaiah 11 and 65, does this imply that they weren’t originally carnivores? If so, why couldn’t mosquitoes have lived off vegetation rather than living beings, and/or why couldn’t they do so again on the New Earth? We should not mistake all animals’ current behaviors with their original design—think how misleading that would be if we did it with humans.

We often project our current revulsion to certain creatures (e.g. big hairy spiders give me the major creeps) on our eternal state—but this ignores two critical things: they will be changed and we will be changed. They won’t be worthy of revulsion, and we won’t be gripped by revulsion.

Note from Eternal Perspective Ministries: Preorder Randy’s book All God’s Creatures: What the Bible Says About Animals, Heaven, and the New Earth from EPM, and your book will ship by media mail when it releases this fall.

Previous Post

June 8, 2026

Every Child Is Known and Loved by God, from Conception

Next Post

June 15, 2026 How Can We Sense God’s Leading in Our Lives?

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"The biblical references and examples make the message easy to follow, while the focus on ..."

harry085drop

Being with God Is the Heart ..."

"As we do good works (no matter how small), and struggle to live holy lives ..."

Tom Hering

How Can We Be Ready to ..."

"Katy Faust's "articles" are junk science at best."

Roger J.

Every Child Is Known and Loved ..."

"People can feed their thoughts or a few notes into AI and be delighted with ..."

rrhersh

AI, Ghostwriting, and the Ethics of ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category About Me Animals Books Books and Resources Christ Christian Life Christians Past and Present Church Creation Culture and Worldview Doctrine and Theology Eternal Perspective Ministries Fun Grace and Truth Grief Happiness Heaven Marriage and Family Missions Money and Giving Persecuted Church Politics Prayer Prolife Salvation Sexual Purity Sovereignty and Free Will Suffering and Evil Uncategorized Writing

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz