157—"WHERE THEIR WORM DIETH NOT"
By Editor
These verses contain expressions that are repeated several times in the last part of Mark 9. The question especially is over the expression, "the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." The term "hell" in this passage comes from the Hebrew word meaning Valley of Hinnom. In the Greek it is Gehenna. The Valley of Hinnom was a valley just outside of Jerusalem where all of the offal of the city was cast. We could understand what a fearful place this would make of that small valley. Worms were continually preying upon this mass of filth. Many dead bodies of beasts were there. What the worms did not consume, constant fires were kept burning to destroy. This was done to avert pestilence. The valley became therefore a symbol of complete and utter destruction—not of continual torment; for whatever was cast into that valley, if it was not eaten by the worms, was destroyed by fire. God uses that as a symbol of the punishment of the wicked. It does not mean that worms will prey upon the wicked men to all eternity, and that fire will burn them to all eternity. It does indicate that when the time comes for the punishment of those who have rejected every offer of mercy, there will be utter destruction of the wicked. This is what is taught in Isa. 66: 24. It declares that in the great day of Judgment, so graphically set forth in the twentieth chapter of the Revelation, the children of God shall look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against God—not upon the living bodies of these men, but the dead carcasses. There we are told: "Their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." The thought is that neither one of these destructive agencies will cease its work until the thing upon which they preyed is destroyed. So again in Isa. 51: 6, we read that the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; and in verse 8, "For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool." That is, it is utter destruction. The same figure is used in the third chapter of Matthew concerning the wicked. Speaking of our Lord it says, "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire"—that is, fire that will not be quenched until it has done its work. Another illustration of that is found in a comparison between Jer. 17: 27 and 2 Chron. 36: 19, 21. Jeremiah declared that if the children of Israel would not keep God's Sabbath, and obey Him, Jerusalem would be destroyed. "Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched." Now what was the result of that fire? We are told in 2 Chron. 36: 19, 21: "And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. . . . To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah." The unquenchable fire burned up the thing that was cast into it. There are many other passages, but we refer to two others. First, there is a very strong expression in Jude 7, which declares that Sodom and Gomorrha "are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Peter tells us just what this fire did: "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly." 2 Peter 2: 6. These texts clearly show that the undying worm and the unquenchable fire of Mark mean absolute and utter destruction of the wicked; and so Malachi declares: "Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." God does not present before us an eternal life in misery, but utter destruction. Verse 9 says that "there was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt;" and verse 21 says, "I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with our fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt." Does this mean that the Ten Commandments were the covenant which the Lord made with the fathers? No, it does not mean that the Ten Commandments are the covenant made with Israel. A covenant made with one is a mutual agreement, and there is nothing in the Ten Commandments that is of the nature of a mutual agreement. They were the basis of that agreement, but they were not the agreement itself. In the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, the Ten Commandments are called the covenant which God commanded, not the covenant which He made with any one. It will be clearly seen that there is no contradiction or confusion in these scriptures if we will allow the "wherein" to apply not to the ark, but to "the place." That is, the ark was in the same place where the covenant of the Lord was which He made with the fathers. 159—THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES
When will the times of the gentiles be fulfilled? Luke 21: 24. They will be fulfilled when probation closes, and God gathers home His people to Himself.