In Mark 9:44, 46 and 48, Jesus did not teach that living humans would be in the lake of fire. Jesus said that their "worms" would be there. In almost every place in the Bible where it speaks of a worm or worms, it means maggots. Jesus used the word "Gehenna" as symbolic of the lake of fire. Gehenna was the garbage dump for Jerusalem. It continuously burned, and when Jesus spoke about worms, He meant that the maggots in Gehenna would squirm whenever the fire got close to them. Clearly, Jesus meant that these maggots were not human beings. Jesus also referred to Isaiah 66:22-24 which is a prophecy about when God will recreate a new heaven and a new earth. Isaiah 66:23 clearly prophesies that "all flesh" will worship God. God will have to recover and recreate the lives of all humans in order for this to be true. Isaiah 66:24 prophesies that living humans will be able to see the lake of fire and the worms of the dead. Clearly, the Bible uses the word "worms" as a metaphor for the total sin and death that has infected every living human. The lake of fire will contain only the total sin and death of humanity, not living humans.
The fact that Jesus likened sin and death to maggots squirming near a continuous fire implies that these worms possessed a low level of consciousness. But since in God's positive world death can possess no consciousness, then the low level consciousness of these worms in the lake of fire must be a negative consciousness like that of demons. Since spiritual death equals total evil, this condition would seem to be true in light of Matthew 25:41. It is quite significant that in Matthew 25:41, God casts only the "cursed" into the lake of fire. In Genesis 3:14-19, God cursed the Devil and the ground which contains hell, but God did not curse humans. These facts would seem to indicate that God will separate the lives of all humans from the total evil that has infected humanity, which Jesus called "worms," and recreate the lives of all humans. Positive consciousness, created by God, can get no idea whatsoever as to what a negative consciousness could be, except that it is totally evil. Negative consciousness is a mystery even to God. II Thessalonians 2:7. Although God will remove all pain and suffering from His recreated people on His recreated earth, they still might retain some slight, negative conscious connection to their worms in the everlasting fire. But believers saved by grace in heaven will possess no more consciousness of sin whatsoever. Hebrews 9:14.
The Bible further reinforces its teaching about worms being a metaphor for total evil in the prophecy of Psalm 22:6. Jesus prophesied in this verse that he would become a worm on the cross. II Corinthians 5:21 also backs up this truth. In Body, Soul, and Spirit while Jesus hung on the cross, He literally became permeated with the sin and death of all humanity. The word "worm" in Psalm 22:6 signifies this truth. Satan wagered that the piercing force of total evil would so overwhelm the holiness of Jesus that He would remain in hell when He descended there, and thus God would be permanently dead. But Christ's holiness proved to be so powerful over sin and death that in some miraculous way, the Holy Spirit of Christ rose from hell, leaving all sin and death behind, to be reunited with His sinless Body in glorious victory over sin and death. After having been separated from Himself in Spirit, Soul, and Body by death and sin, God reunited His Life by Christ's resurrection. The Father demonstrated His separation from His Son when He turned away from Christ on the cross. Matthew 27:46. This miracle was effected by God's infinite power. The truth about infinity is that any part equals the whole. Even though God was separated from Himself, each part of His Trinity equaled His infinite power. Through His death, burial, and resurrection, God separated all that He ever created from its being sullied by sin and death. Hebrews 12:26-29; Revelation 4:11; Revelation 21:5.
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