What is the worm that will not die in Mark 9:48?

Hell is also the place where the worm does not die. A comparison with Isaiah 66:24 and Acts 12:23 shows that this indicates the decomposition process of a corpse in the grave. This process started with Herod even when he was still alive, being a judgment of God because of his pride. He was eaten by worms and died. Whereas the decomposition process in the grave normally comes to an end, this is not the case in the second death. In hell their worm (singular!) does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48). This is often given a spiritual meaning, being connected with the never ending remorse of the lost. The gnawing of the worm would then refer to their being consumed by remorse and, or, fear, in the agonies suffered. Since the expression “their worm” is in the singular, it would be easy to identify the worm with the individual conscience. Although this is a very plausible explanation, one might object that it seems to ignore the “consuming” of the body. If we consider that after the end of the reign of Christ the lost will be raised and judged and then cast into the second death with spirit, soul and body (Rev. 20:5, 11 ff.), this suggests that even the body will be subject there to an endless destruction, to a never ending “decomposition process”.

And so when we come to look at the details. There is no doubt that annihilation has been helped in many minds by the tendency to take literally the expressions used in Scripture to image to us the awful realities of eternal punishment. A "lake burning with fire and brimstone," if taken literally, would suggest to many the idea of utter extermination of the bodies at least of those cast into it. But how should the devil, a spirit, be tormented there? And what was the "flame" which tormented the spirit of the rich man in hades? The truth is, these are figures, which Scripture itself explains, where over and over again God's wrath is compared to fire. Thus, in the Lord's solemn words in Mark 9:48, the worm that dieth not is the gnawing of awakened conscience: who will suppose a literal undying worm? And so the fire that is not quenched is as surely that wrath of God which "abideth on" the wicked.

But further, it is evident that the state of those who die in their sins and upon whom the judgment that comes after death will fall, remain unchanged. We do not read of any hope of repentance on their part in eternity. Three times over the Lord repeats the solemn word, "Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:44-45, 48). It is generally said that "their worm" symbolizes the gnawing and remorse of the conscience, and it may indeed be this, but there is surely more in it; "their worm" speaks of corruption, and in this corrupt condition they remain unchanged for ever. Consequently the fire, symbolical of God's judgment, abides on them, it never dies out. We do not mean that these unrepentant sinners will continue sinning in hell, for as men in prison are restrained from crime, so will the lost be under the restraint of God's judgment in the lake of fire; but the sinful condition will remain, for we read, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still" (Rev. 22:11). And John 3:36 is a decisive word: "He that believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." He "shall not see life" shatters the false hope of the universalist, and the wrath of God abiding on him meets the error of the annihilationist.

Verses 24-30. Out of his own mouth the wicked and slothful servant was condemned. Then you get the principle of verse 29. In Luke 8:18, it is "that which he seems to have" "Cast the useless (or unprofitable) bondman into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth." We don't want to tone that down at all. It is the case of a lost soul, and one eternally lost. There is no one who speaks so definitely, so faithfully, about the eternal state of the wicked as the Lord Himself. Mark 9:48, is very solemn and incontrovertible, and he who denies their import denies the word of Him who is the Truth. Reject it you may, but the truth remains. "Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched." "Their worm" is the conscience of each individual. Man acquired a conscience by the fall, and man will have it for ever — it will never die. The so-called "larger hope" is a fiction — a delusion and lie of Satan. So also is "annihilation." Cremation with the intent to avoid resurrection is the sin of limiting the Holy one of Israel. The God who created man will raise men in the bodies in which they sinned. The Lord said, in John 13, "If ye believe not that I am He,ye shall die in your sins." And if a man dies in his sins, he is raised in his sins, and is judged in his sins, not to decide whether he is saved or lost for that is decided here, but to apportion the just punishment to each — to some many stripes to others few; and if a man is judged in his sins, he is cast into hell in his sins, into that place which, as the close of this chapter tells us, was "prepared for the devil and his angels." Contrast that with "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" There is no alternative between the two.

100 Mark 9:48. — "Worm." See Isa. 66:24. It is, of course, metaphorical (Beet, "The Last Things," p. 180 f.). As to recognition by the Pharisees of endless punishment, see Schürer, § 26, or Josephus, Bell. Jud. 2:8, 14.

Is this not in contrast to the Gehenna outside of Jerusalem, where millions of worms perished, and thousands of flames were quenched? Here “their” worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched, and as if to make the meaning doubly plain, a still stronger expression is used in relation to the being of God and eternal punishment.

In the day of judgment you will not be condemned, because you had been in the pit of darkness, but because you refused to be taken out. "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, (the dark pit,) and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." The remembrance of the love of God in sending His Son to this dark pit of sin, will be like the worm that dies not. Oh, what unutterable remorse!

But now let us quote you one passage, that will suffice for our purpose. Three times over from the lips of the Son of God Himself, when speaking of hell, fall the awfully solemn words, “Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched” (See Mark 9:44, 46, 48).

Supposing the “worm” to be a figure of the remorse of a lifetime of sin, of a conscience quickened for ever into undying reproaches, and “the fire” to be a figure of God’s punishment for ever and ever of the damned in hell, still the words lose nothing of their solemnity and awfulness. He speaks of “the fire that NEVER shall be quenched.”

"(1) The argument for endless sin and sorrow hence derived is cased upon that very understanding of the verb to die against which the argument itself is directed. The eternal suffering is supposed to be proved by the words, 'their worm dieth not.' But "dieth" here is taken in the sense of 'ceaseth to be,' — not in the sense of being miserable or being unholy."

Certainly an "unholy" worm would be a somewhat incongruous idea, and we freely concede also to Mr. White that "to die" never means "to be miserable." We concede that the death of a worm is its ceasing to be, and on this account, no doubt, teleuta is used (and not apothneskai,) as Mr. White himself observes: for this word has this as its primary sense. He seeks to rob it of its force indeed by a reference to the Hebrew of Isa. 66:24, where "the worm's death is represented by tamuth, the same verb which describes the death of the sinner elsewhere." This, however, concludes nothing, for the Lord's words in Mark are not a mere citation of Isaiah, as he supposes. But we also allow that if he can prove that a man is no more than a worm, his death can only be what a worm's death is.

Mr. White's second argument is again from the supposed citation of Isaiah. In the Old Testament prophet, the language has reference to "carcasses," and literal worms and fire: he therefore argues that the words in Mark speak of a like physical extinction.

The Valley of Hinnom, the refuse dump outside Jerusalem, where fires always burned and maggots continually did their work, was known as Gehenna; and this word on the Lord's lips became a terribly apt figure of the abode of the lost. Verily hell will be the great refuse heap of eternity, where all that is incorrigibly evil will be segregated from the good, and lie for ever under the judgment of God. This terrible fact reaches us from the lips of Him who loved sinful men and wept over them.