Conditional Immortality - Biblical Proof of Annihaliation in Hell by Douglas B. - HTML preview

Chapter 4

Why rarely cited Isaiah 66:24 is the key

Isaiah 66:24 states "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."

Why is this verse key? Because Jesus quotes it verbatim in Mark 9:48. Therefore, it is a clear statement about Gehenna (hell) and must be looked at in the context of Isaiah 66. (Jesus would have known it in context and so should we.) Also – the word "Gehennah" is what Jesus used whenever he spoke of "hell" – and that was the name of the garbage dump in Jerusalem! So His listeners would NOT have understood Jesus as speaking of eternal torment here. Gehennah was a place where worms and fires lived, but not people! Now back to Isaiah 66:24.

In this verse we have believers, ('they' in verse 24), going out to look upon the very place tradition tells us we will never see. Isaiah clearly states that we will see those in Gehenna. He cannot state it more clearly in verse 24, "And they (i.e. believers) shall go forth, and look upon the carcases...."

We, believers, will look upon dead bodies in Gehenna. (Did you ever consider that?) And what will be seen? Isaiah makes it clear, we will see "carcasses" (Hebrew: pegerim = dead bodies). This is at the point in time when all in Gehenna (hell) have already died in "body and soul" (Matthew 10:28). Then we will be permitted to view them. They will be ashes by this time (Malachi 4:3) - cremated.

Evangelical author Edward Fudge gives this passage a well

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developed exegesis that deserves quotation here....

Jesus quotes these words (Isaiah 66:24) in one

of His own famous statements about final

punishment (Mark 9:48), and they have formed

the basis for much Christian teaching on hell

ever since. It is important to look carefully,

therefore, at what the verse actually says....

The righteous "go out and look" on their

enemies' corpses.… They look at corpses

(Hebrew: pegerim), not living people. They

view their destruction, not their misery. Other

Bible verses mention "worms" in connection

with dead bodies. Several kinds of flies lay

eggs in the flesh of carcasses, which hatch

into larvae known as maggots. These serve a

beneficial purpose in hastening decomposition.

They are also a symbol of ignominy precisely

because they attack only bodies deprived of

burial. To the Hebrew mind, even if a man

could live to be 200 years old and have 100

children, without a proper burial he would

better have been stillborn (Ecclesiastes 6:3-6).

Like Jezebel, these corpses are left unburied;

they are "loathsome" to all who see them (2

Kings 9:10).

To burn a corpse signified at times a thing

utterly accursed or devoted to God for

destruction (Josh 7:25). It also was an act of

complete contempt (Amos 2:1).... Because this

fire is "not quenched" or extinguished, it

completely consumes what is put into it. The

figure of unquenchable fire is frequent in

scripture and signifies a fire that consumes

(Ezekiel 20:47, 48), reduces to nothing (Amos

5:5,6) or burns up something (Matt 3:12). Both

worms and fire speak of a total and final

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destruction. Both terms also make this a

"loathsome" scene. The righteous view it with

disgust but not pity. The final picture is one of

shame, not pain. (Edward W. Fudge, The Fire

That Consumes. A Biblical and Historical Study

of the Final Punishment (Houston, 1982), p.

111)

Certainly the fact that we, as believers, will go out and "look upon" these dead bodies in Gehenna (hell) must make us change the paradigm by which we see the fate of the lost through. Is this not what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? They became ashes and the surrounding towns could eventually walk through there with amazement and see ashes everywhere of those who were incinerated.

Notice the Jewish apostle Peter draws this same conclusion... "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly" (2 Peter 2:6) If Sodom is an example (Peter's own words) to us of the fate of the ungodly, then their becoming ashes must be the same fate reserved for the lost - cremation. Sodomites became ashes, Peter tells us the unsaved will also become ashes – not tormented forever as is erroneously taught.

Additionally, Malachi also tells us the wicked will be turned into ashes, just as Peter stated above... "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet." Malachi 4:3

Isaiah, Peter, and Malachi tell us the fate of unbelievers is for them to become ashes, cremated. Ashes that will be looked upon with contempt or disgust (Isaiah 66:24, Daniel 12:2). These are bodies and souls of men that are now destroyed. No doubt it will be terrible for the lost on Judgment Day, but the traditional notion of eternal torture is not found in these verses. Dead bodies turning into ashes is what is written.

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