The Worm of Hell

Our Text: Mark 9:48 says,

"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

The Greek word SKOLEX is a worm that preys upon dead bodies.  Strong's dictionary suggests it could be a "grub, maggot or earthworm" (4663 Strong's index).

I've always wondered why the text had said, "worm," instead of worms. The Greek teaches that the word is a "noun - nominative singular masculine." It is a noun in a singular form. Keep in mind it is,

"Where their worm (not worms) dieth not."

Verse 47 states the place where you would find such a worm, "hell fire."  The word hell in this text is the Greek word, Gehenna,  Gehenna fire or unquenchable Gehenna fire; verse 9:44-48.  Gehenna is a deep narrow Glen just south of Jerusalem, where the Jews had offered their children to Moloch (2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31; 19:2-6). Most scholars today would agree on these several historical points: 1: There was a cult of child sacrifice in ancient Israel (Canaanite origin). 2: That this type of sacrifice, contra some older scholarship, does indeed refer to the practice of actually sacrificing children, and not simply of dedicating them to a deity.  In later times, it served as a receptacle for all sorts of putrefying matter.  Jesus said Gehenna was the place where, "the fire is not quenched."  

Today Gehenna is a place of tranquil surroundings, beautiful gardens, and luscious trees.  It is a peaceful place where you would like to rest in the open air upon the green matted grass.  However, it will not always be so.  I believe it will become a place of unbelievable horror,

"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death" Revelation 20:14).

Hades is cast into Geheena, and has become a lake of fire, Gehenna fire.

Do we cast off the thought that Jesus meant literal worms of fire? Or do we consider it metaphorical language? Mankind has been called a worm in the Scriptures,

"How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?" (Job 25:6).

"Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 41:14).

"But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people" (Psalms 22:6).

Certainly it could be taught that the worm Jesus spoke of refers to men who will suffer the eternal fires of Hell.  Like worms they squirm, always twisting and turning in their eternal agony.  However, even if Jesus spoke metaphorically, the point is still clear, "their worm dieth not."    I will repeat it again.  The teaching of this passage in Mark 9:48 declares that mankind will never have a chance of self-annihilation in the lake of fire for even in Hell fire, they will continue to exist.

But what about a more literal interpretation of Mark 9:48 that a special worm will be prepared for every occupant in Hell?  Special worms have been prepared in the past,

"But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered" (Jonah 4:7).

I have no doubt that God could prepare such a worm to torment and feed on the lost,

"The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree" (Job 24:20).

God has used the worm before in the destruction of the wicked.  I instantly recall King Herod,

"And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them.  And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost." (Acts 12:21-23).

It was such a disturbing incident that even the historian Flavius Josephus wrote about it in his book, Jewish Antiquities,

"But now Herod's distemper greatly increased upon him after a severe manner, and this by God's judgment upon him for his sins; for a fire glowed in him slowly, which did not so much appear to the touch outwardly, as it augmented his pains inwardly; for it brought upon him a vehement appetite to eating, which he could not avoid to supply with one sort of food or other. His entrails were also ex-ulcerated, and the chief violence of his pain lay on his colon; an aqueous and transparent liquor also had settled itself about his feet, and a like matter afflicted him at the bottom of his belly. Nay, further, his privy-member was putrefied, and produced worms; and when he sat upright, he had a difficulty of breathing, which was very loathsome, on account of the stench of his breath, and the quickness of its returns; he had also convulsions in all parts of his body, which increased his strength to an insufferable degree. It was said by those who pretended to divine, and who were endued with wisdom to foretell such things, that God inflicted this punishment on the king on account of his great impiety" (Book 17 Chapter 6:5).

If only all mankind would learn,

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7).

You might laugh with glee at a thought of a worm living in unquenchable fire.  A preacher in your neighborhood would be considered mad for such an idea.  Nevertheless, are we to believe the words of Jesus? Repeatedly He said, "Where their worm dieth not."

A worm-eating flesh is very nasty business.  The thought of it is so abhorrent to our modern minds. However, a worm of fire, a worm that can withstand the heat and yet eternally live?

In my study about the worm of Hell, I wanted to see what earthly, physical creatures lived in the hottest temperatures.  I found out that many biologists described fishes that can withstand heat for small periods of time.  And then I found the creature that can withstand the hottest temperatures.  I found that worms that live in deep-sea hypothermal vents have the highest temperature preference of any animal studied.

Examining Paralvinella sulfincola from the deep ocean off the Pacific coast of Washington, researchers found that given a choice, these worms look for places where temperatures reach a scorching 113 to 131 degrees Fahrenheit. Those are survivable air temperatures, but in water they're deadly for most creatures, because water conducts heat to the body more efficiently. In laboratory settings, the worms chose to stay in sections of the aquarium where temperatures were 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 Celsius) for the entire duration of a seven-hour experiment.  These worms are real and not metaphorical language.  Is it too hard to believe that a worm can be prepared by God to live in fire?

If worms can live in temperatures of 122 degrees Fahrenheit, how hot is the coolest flame? Cool flames have been made as low as 120 centigrade or 250 Fahrenheit.  Why tell you all this?  If God can make a creature that lives in extreme heat like the Paralvinella sulfincola then God can surely make one that lives in Gehenna fire.  In fact, I know of three boys who supernaturally survived a fire of at least 500 degrees Fahrenheit.  It is a true story from the book of Daniel.  Here is the news story,

"Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them" (Daniel 3:22-27).

No, there is nothing too hard for the Lord,

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?" (Jeremiah 32:27).

Here are some verses that may support an actual literal worm of Hell,

"The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree" (Job 24:20).

"For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation" (Isaiah 51:8).

"Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee" (Isaiah 14:11).

"And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh" (Isaiah 66:24).

"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.  For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt" (Mark 9:44-49).

Whether you believe that the worm is a lost soul or a literal worm dwelling in the fires of Hell, you cannot deny this, "their worm dieth not."  Not a place of annihilation or obliteration but a place of never ending damnation,

"And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:29).

God is a merciful God. Just in the fact that God has warned us of Hell, makes Him worthy of all our praise.