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Worms and fire

Worms and fire

What’s so puzzling about Isaiah 66:24? Isn’t it simply an image of judgment on the enemies of YHWH. Jerusalem is renewed, but those who rebelled against God will be slain (66:16) and their corpses will be an abhorrence to all flesh. The image is quite naturally reapplied to first century Israel (Mark 9:47-48).

And the ‘lake of fire’ texts in Revelation - where the beast and false prophet are despatched: also Satan; also death and Hades; also "anyone (whose) name was not found in the book of life"; also "the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practise magic arts, the idolaters and all liars". Twice this consignment to the lake of fire is called ‘the second death’.

It seems to me fairly obvious that if you throw something into a lake of fire, it is destroyed. It’s not going to come back to bother you. It’s not going to be part of a pristine new creation. But how can it be understood as ‘eternal punishment’? Destroyed is destroyed. The dead bodies of those who rebel against YHWH are consumed by worm and fire, but they are dead bodies, corpses. You can’t ‘punish’ a corpse. The point of the worm and fire language is to draw out the horror of the judgment upon them - an abhorrence to all flesh.

A judgement of rewards for Christians, and judgement of sin on those who rejected God’s means of deliverance.

Where do you find this in Revelation? I agree with you that Revelation describes a final judgment of all the dead, but what are the terms of that judgment?

The Last Word and the Word After That By: Andrew (17 replies) 26 May, 2005 - 12:26