Q.DEAR BILLY GRAHAM: Will there be animals in heaven? My dog died a few months ago, and I miss him very, very much. After my husband died, I guess my dog became my best friend. — C.J.

A. DEAR C.J.: Heaven will be a place of perfect happiness for us — and if we need animals around us to make our happiness complete, then you can be sure God will have them there.

Heaven will be glorious because it will be perfect. All the sufferings and disappointments of this life will be over, and death will no longer exist. Sin will be banished.

But heaven will be glorious most of all because we’ll be in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ. Even the most glorious thing we can imagine on earth or in the heavens is but a pale reflection of the glory of God.

But the Bible also promises that at the end of time God will bring about a new heaven and a new earth (see 2 Peter 3:13). We will share in that wondrous world, and in that day, many scholars believe, the Bible’s prophecy will be fulfilled: “The wolf will live with the lamb. … And the lion will eat straw like the ox” (Isaiah 11:6-7). Is Jesus Christ the source of your hope?