“And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses …” (Isa. 66:24a, NKJV)
We can now finally deal with Isa 66:24, which many people interpret as a clear pointer to the reality of hell: “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.” In order to correctly understand this passage we had to take a long detour, including looking at extensive exegesis on three different levels of interpretation of Isa 65 & 66. The purpose of this detour was not to provide an unnecessarily long context, but it did eventually help in demonstrating how the Old Testament can be read in a responsible manner in the light of the New Testament.
In the light of the fire which will come on the earth, Isa 66 prophesies that the knowledge of the gospel of glory will come over the earth. This is also spelled out in various other texts in the Old and New Testament:
- “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab 2:14).
- “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 4:6).
- “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Eph 1:17).
- “seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and virtue; …” (2 Pet. 1:3).
According to Isa 66:22, the Bride, who is taken from the old priesthood of Levi (Heb 7:11-12; Isa 66:21; 61:6; Mal 3:3; Rev 1:6; 5:10) will then live before Him “as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me” (this statement is found in verse 22). Verse 24 follows on this: when they “go forth” they shall “look upon the corpses”. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, explains it as follows: “those constant and spiritual worshippers shall go forth from the holy mountain Jerusalem, the church of God”. If we had to recast it in our terminology, it would state: they who worship God in spirit and in truth, will rise from Zion as the Bride.”
And from this position of authority they will still be part of spiritual gatherings (as Isa 66:23 spells it out in Old Testament terms), they will still build and plant and work (Isa 65:21-22), still have physical descendants (Isa 65:23; 66:22), still evangelise (Isa 66:19), and death will still be part of their everyday reality (Isa 66:24). This section is not about the thousand year reign of peace which takes place after Jesus has returned to earth, it is the reality in which you and I (still) live in the New Covenant. It also clearly has nothing to do with hell and the so-called “afterlife”.
- Selah: How do you explain “for their worm shall not die” in the light of Job 17:13-14
and 24:20?
- Read: 17-19
- Examine the OT-typology: Luke 17:20 (in the light of this teaching)
