“They shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” Isaiah 66:24
When Jesus spoke about hell, he used these words from Isaiah 66:24 to describe its awful reality: “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48).
The fire speaks of God’s presence. People sometimes say hell is being separated from God forever, but sinners in hell can never escape the God they hate or the burning fire of his hostility toward them. God is a consuming fire; it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands (Heb. 10:31).
The worm speaks of conscience that eats away at the inside of a person. A person in hell will not be telling himself what a good guy he is and that he has just been misunderstood. The sinner in hell will know that the single reason he (or she) is there is his own continued resistance and rebellion toward God. He will see that God’s judgment on him is completely just.
The Bible’s teaching about hell helps us to understand why Jesus Christ came into the world and why he had to die on the cross. What would be on a scale that would call for Christ to leave heaven, God to become man, the Savior to hang on a cross, and the eternal fellowship of the Father and the Son to be ruptured?
Hell has a summons for every person. Either you go there yourself, or Christ goes there on your behalf. Christ entered hell so that you should never know what it is like.
Can you thank God that Jesus saved you by entering hell on the cross for you?
