The wicked will be raised to face judgement. Daniel says, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). Paul said, ” there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.” (Acts 24:15) Paul is saying nothing more or less than what Jesus said, that is that those who have done good will rise to live and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned (John 5:29).
So far this is not controversial. The problem is that the nature of that”condemnation” has not been defined biblically in traditional Christianity. The Bible says that the final fate of the wicked will be complete destruction. They will in fact die a second death (Rev. 2:11, 20:14) In Scriptures too numerous to list it is said of the wicked that
They shall die and consume away;
They shall be cut off;
They shall perish and be destroyed;
They shall be burned up and be no more.
Further clarity is achieving in reaching a biblical definition of the fate of the wicked when we realise that Malachi says, the wicked will be ashes under the soles of your feet and that the oft mentioned undying worm and unquenchable fire do not torment lost souls, but consume the corpses of the wicked (Look at Isa. 66:24 then Mark 9:48 not the other way around).
ARE THE WICKED RESURRECTED AS WORMS?
Corinthians 15:35 asks the question “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” The question is posed with regard to the just, and the answer deals only with their resurrection. Although we receive no precise details, we are given some information: the just will be raised “incorruptible” with a “spiritual body.” The character of the resurrection of the wicked receives no mention. It’s no wonder, then, that it remains shrouded in mystery. Indeed some believe the wicked will not be resurrected at all.
In John 6 Christ declares no less than four times that He will raise up the just on the last day. There’s no mention of the wicked. John 6:54 states: “Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” That verse, along with John 11:25 and Luke 20:35, also seem to reserve the resurrection for the just alone. Many Old Testament passages also indicate that the wicked will never rise (Isaiah 26:14, Jeremiah 25:27, Psalm 36:12, 140:10). Several New Testament passages, however, indicate that they will (John 5:28-29, Acts 24:15, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Rev. 20:12-13). The question remains then–at least with regard to the wicked: How are they raised up? And with what body do they come?
Is it possible that Mark 9:43-44 gives us a precise answer? Does it tell us not only what body the wicked will be raised with, but what their fate will be for all eternity? The verses read: “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Is this verse telling us that the wicked will be resurrected as worms, never to die again. Notice the curious wording here. It doesn’t say the worms, or the worm, or their worms. Instead it says their worm. The verse seems to be indicating that each person possesses a worm which will never die. Is that worm their resurrection body? Is this passage saying, in effect: It’s better to enter life maimed than having a whole body, to be turned into a worm that will never be permitted to die? One has to admit, the word their rather than the is quite perplexing.
To understand why this wording is so curious it’s necessary to consider the traditional understanding of this verse. Actually, there are two understandings–a traditionalist one (that hell is eternal torment) and an annihilationist one (that hell is extinction). The traditionalist understanding is that hell is a place of torment. In this realm the wicked will suffer torment by, among other things, fire and worms. The worms could signify a tormented conscious, or they could be literal creatures gnawing at the flesh of the damned. The annihilationist contends that hell is a reference to Valley of Hinnom, or the fire of Gehenna, which is a huge valley in Israel where corpses were disposed of. It’s fires were kept constantly burning to destroy the bodies. What the fire didn’t consume, the worms did. In both the traditionalist and annihilationist perspectives the worms played the same role: to feast on the flesh of those in “hell.”
Back to the issue of the strange wording, particularly the use of the word their rather than the word the. The word the makes more sense both grammatically and contextually if one holds to either of the traditional meanings of the verse. It makes more sense, that is, if the reference is to the worms devouring the wicked rather than to the wicked themselves. It makes more sense grammatically because the worms corresponds to the fire, which is part of the same sentence, and the other instrument of torment mentioned. Which of the following sounds better: “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” Or “Where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched? Is it any more their worm than it is their fire?
It also makes more sense from a contextual point of view. The idea of worms feasting on flesh does not denote ownership of the worms by those being feasted on. And yet that’s exactly what the phrase their indicates.
The word worms rather than worm is equally curious. And again it makes more sense grammatically and contextually to use the word worms if we hold to the traditional understanding of this verse. The term worm implies that each person is being devoured by one worm as opposed to many. This simply would not be the case according to the traditional understanding of hell as a place teeming with worms that swarm all over anything that is thrown their way.
Aside from the curious wording of the text, is there any reason to believe that the wicked will be resurrected as worms? Actually, worms are a fitting body for the wicked for at many reasons:
They thrive on filth
They are disgusting
They are primitive
They have no limbs or eyes–a condition which would prove maddeningly restrictive to souls that once inhabited a human form.
They recoil from light and will become paralyzed by more than an hour’s worth of exposure to light.
They signify death, yet can’t easily be killed; cut a worm in half and you get two worms.
The Bible stresses the earthiness of man as opposed to the heavenly nature of the just after his resurrection. (1 Cor. 15:47-49) It’s only reasonable to assume that the wicked will be made even more earthy upon their resurrection. What could be more earthy than worms, which live underground due to their hatred of light? They also eat earthy, soil-like substances like chalk and clay.
They bear a semblance to Satan’s “body.” Satan is a serpent in Eden, a dragon in Revelations. Either way he’s base and lizard-like.
Remember what God said to Satan: “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life…” (Genesis 3:14) God seems to be saying he will turn Satan into a worm. Likewise, he tells Adam “for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.” (Genesis 3:19)
Moreover, Isaiah 65:25 states: “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat.”
It’s also worth noting that Mark 9:43-44 warns us to cut off our hand, foot, and eye if they offend us. It then goes onto mention the worm that dieth not–a worm has no limbs and is blind.
That’s not to say we can’t make a case against such an interpretation. Let’s look at them one by one.
Why, if the verse is referring to the wicked rather than the worms, doesn’t it just say “where they dieth not?” Why disguise whose in view with the reference to worm? It makes no secret of the fact that Satan has been given a loathsome form (Isaiah 65:25) That verse mentions the “days of [Satan’s] life; there’s no indication of life in Mark 9:44.
If the wicked have been given the form of worms, then the verse is saying “where your body dieth not.” But a person isn’t a body. A person is a soul; we have a body (Genesis 2:7). Christ warns us to fear the one who can “destroy both soul and body in hell.”
One might answer this argument by noting that verse 43 is discussing bodies with regard to their condition in this life going into the next; perhaps verse 44 is discussing their condition in that next life.
One might also argue that the word their is not denoting possession of the worm to the wicked, but to hell itself. In other words, the worm is hell’s; hell is the abode of worms. This would explain why the verse uses the word their with regard to the worm, but not with regard to the fire: hell is the fire; it would make no sense to ascribe possession of the fire to the fire. The word thy means your: Christ is saying “if your hand offend thee, cut it off.” Why, when he gets to the part about the worm, does He switch to their. Why not say “where your worm dieth not.” Does switching to the word their indicate He’s now talking about hell (as in hell’s worm rather than your worm)?
Normally, the word their is not used to denote possession when the possessor is a place. It might, however, be used if the possessor were a group of persons or a community. The Bible sometimes does depict Hell as a kind of community. We find this depiction of hell in Isaiah 15:9-10: “Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up their thrones all the kings of the nations.”
Mark 9:46 is quoting from Isaiah 66:22-24
Look at the context and time period of Isaiah 66:22-24:
Isaiah 66:22-24:
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses 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 abhorrence unto all flesh.
The “new heavens and new earth” of Isaiah 66:22 matches Revelation 21:1. This occurs AFTER the Great White Throne Judgement of Revelation 20:10-15! The references to “carcases”; “their worm”; “their fire” (vs 24) — is AFTER the Great White Throne Judgement of the LOST people! The reference to “. . the men that have transgressed. . .” are the LOST people AFTER the Great White Throne Judgement.
And at this point — they have received their NEW BODY! Notice what Isaiah says, the saved people shall “look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed. . .” It’s worth mentioning that a “carcase” is not always a “DEAD body”. For instance, two times the Bible specifically uses the term “dead carcase” (Deut. 14:8 and Ezek 6:5). If a carcase is ALWAYS a “dead” body, then why say “dead” carcase? And there’s NOTHING in the context of Isaiah to imply these “men that transgressed” are “dead”.
In fact, Isaiah clearly says, “their worm shall NOT DIE”. Even in our language, we refer to a living body as a “carcase”. For example, “Get your carcase [body] in here”. Why is that important? Because when the saved people in Isaiah 66:24 are “looking upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed” — And do you know what they are SEEING? “Their worm”! The “carcase” they are seeing is “their WORM that shall not die”. The end of Isaiah 66:24 is a frightening endorsement of this interpretation. What the saved people are viewing Isaiah says is “an abhorrence unto all flesh.””
If the verse does refer to the bodies with which the wicked are raised it closes the case once and for all: the wicked are resurrected, they are resurrected as worms, and they never die. It would be the most fascinating and terrifying proof of a burning, devil’s hell offered anywhere in the whole Bible. And an incredibly precise answer to the question of 1 Cor. 15:35 as it pertains to the wicked.