Beware of Hell

 Three times in Mark 9 Jesus repeats his warning about the results of sin and the damnation of hell.  Three times he repeats the words of Isaiah 66:24,

“And they shall go forth and look Upon the corpses of the men

Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die,

And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

Mark 9:43 -48 (NKJV) Jesus speaks to the disciples,

43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 

44 where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’

45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 

46 where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’

47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— 

48 where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’

Why would He repeat this three times in a row?  Because he is serious about saving the sinner? Because He wants no one to endure an eternity of worms and fire?  Jesus loves the people and wants to save all who come to Him and honor Him as their savior and redeemer from their sin.  But….people are hard hearted until He takes their heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh.  To have a heart of flesh is to have compassion.  To have love for others.  To forgive people who hurt you.  To live in the world peacefully and joyfully even with all of its darkness and sin.

I have lived long enough to have heard the naysayer and unbeliever say 'there is no heaven and there is no hell because there is no god'.  To them and their hearts of stone it is sadly their truth.  My truth tells me there is a God.  My faith tells me there is a God who cares and shows me in the days of living life that those with a heart of flesh are far better off than those who turn their back on faith, on God.  It breaks my heart that those who choose not to believe have not only a heart of stone but also a brain of stone.  They seem to have put themselves in the position of a god in their lives.  They believe in themselves and deny a Creator.  According to Jesus (three times right here)they will be cast into the lake of unquenchable fire with the worms.

Being the seeker of knowledge that I am I looked up the Hebrew word "worm" used in Isaiah 66:24.  In English we have a 4 letter word but in Hebrew it is a really long word, "tola tole ah tola ath tola ath".  The definition is quite extraordinary.  Voracious maggot.  Crimson grub. Scarlet, crimson, worm.  Deeper dive takes you to the Hebrew word, "yala", definition "devour".  Jesus is warning of the voracious worm (aka maggot) that devours for all eternity because once in hell the worm never dies.  Literally put, how can that mind picture not scare hell out of everyone?  Yet Jesus repeats the warning 3 times!

People do not like to talk about hell but they will always talk about heaven.  People like the good stuff but they do not like the bad stuff.  People want to believe that God is only love and forgiveness but then they respond to those closest to them with hatred, anger, and unforgiveness.  They blame God for the bad things that happen in the world and then pile their own immorality into the world year after year.  Sin is a human condition that leads to death and God did not send them there.  They did it all on their own and God was not even in their picture.  Each one of us makes a choice.

A couple of verses before Jesus gave His warning about hell he told the disciples,

Mark 9:40  (NKJV) "For he who is not against us is on our side." 

Choose your side wisely my friends.