63. THE WORM THAT SHALL NOT DIE. ISA. 66: 24

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 5, 1892

63. THE WORM THAT SHALL NOT DIE. ISA. 66: 24.

Please explain Isa. 66: 24, where it says, "For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched."

The expression simply means that the wicked will be utterly destroyed; for the worm eats up what it feeds upon, and the fire utterly devours them. See Isa. 51: 8; Mal. 4: 1; Rev. 18: 8, and many others. The text, it will be noticed, does not speak of live men upon which worms feed, but the carcasses, or dead bodies of men. See Isa. 37: 36, where the Hebrew word is rendered "corpses," and Jer. 31: 40; Amos 8: 3, and other places where it is translated "dead bodies," which is what the word everywhere means. The terms "undying" and "neither . . . be quenched" simply indicate that these agents of destruction will not cease until they do their appointed work; for the worm shall eat them up (Isa. 50: 9; 51: 8), and the fire shall burn up the chaff (Matt. 3: 12). For an instance of this use of unquenchable fire see Jer. 17: 24-27 and 2 Chron. 36: 19, 21. The former text declares that if the Jews would not observe the Sabbath, the Lord would kindle a fire in her gates which should not be quenched. In the latter it states that this fire "burnt the house of God," and "burnt all the palaces thereof with fire," "to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah." The "undying worm" and the "unquenchable fire" are symbols of utter and complete destruction. These arguments will likewise apply to Mark 9: 43-48.