Mark 9:46-50

Mark 9:46 (KJB)
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

This is the second time Jesus repeats this because He wants it to be understood that repetition is a very good teacher. (Isa 66:24 KJV) 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. Jesus is stating that if one does not become saved, then they will be cast into the lake of fire on Judgment Day. There will be no end to the torment and no matter how many things are thrown into the fire, it is never quenched. We drink water to quench our thirst and we eventually reach that point but the fire never has enough to quench it. As for what the worm represents, it may be the continuing desires that a person had on earth with it never being fulfilled or it may be the ceaseless torments associated with their punishment since the phrase is “their worm” making it possessive.

Mark 9:47 (KJB)
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

(Mat 5:29 KJV) And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. In Matthew 5:29, Jesus speaks about plucking out the right eye, just as he did the hands and feet. Jesus speaks of plucking out the right eye but He is not saying one should do this literally because the Bible forbids mutilation of the body. In other words, if your eyes see something which offends the regenerated spirit within you, then you are to turn away and immediately reject what you have seen before it becomes a stronghold of lust in your life. This offending can come from a myriad of places such as the internet, TV, movies, sexual conversation or whatever source which may titillate someone. Reject looking at whatever causes you to sin or else you could be on the receiving end of the chastising hand of God if you are a believer. If you are an unbeliever, it will mean eternal damnation. The eye is the receptor and is the first cause of sin in a person’s life. A person can easily see sinful things around them but if they continue to gaze upon them, then those sightings will turn into desires and that is when we engage the hands and the feet. Jesus makes the same observation that just as a person plucks out their eye and can no longer see, then we must be blind to the things which will cause us to stumble. When we are in the supermarket line and there are magazines with scantily dressed people looking at us, we must turn away and refuse to look. If one has a problem in that area, they might even want to stay away from the shore because bathing suits aren’t suits anymore. Basically what Jesus is teaching is that we must give up what comes between us and our obedient Christian walk.

Mark 9:48 (KJB)
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

This is the third time Jesus repeats this because He wants it to be understood. Repetition is a very good teacher. (Isa 66:24 KJV) 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. Jesus is stating that if one does not become saved, then they will be cast into the lake of fire on Judgment Day. There will be no end to the torment and no matter how many things are thrown into the fire, it is never quenched. We drink water to quench our thirst and we eventually reach that point but the fire never has enough to quench it. As for what the worm represents, it may be the continuing desires that a person had on earth with it never being fulfilled or it may be the ceaseless torments associated with their punishment since the phrase is “their worm” making it possessive.

Mark 9:49 (KJB)
For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.

Here Jesus closes out His remarks by giving the scenario on both the believers and the unbelievers. If a person goes to hell because of their sins, they shall not perish nor be annihilated. The fire will continually burn them but at the same time they will be preserved as salt preserves meat, the salting of the unbelievers by fire will preserve them in torment. Then Jesus speaks about every sacrifice being salted with salt. (Lev 2:13 KJV) And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. In the Mosaic system meat offerings were to contain salt. In fact, according to the Leviticus verse, all the offerings would require salt. The salt in the last phrase in Mark 9:49 represents the Gospel preserving the believer. If the believer commits a sin, then the salt will preserve that believer just as grace preserves the believer because all their sins have been paid for and removed. (Rom 12:1 KJV) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Every true believer is a living sacrifice which is preserved by the salt of grace.

Mark 9:50 (KJB)
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

When the Lord mentions salt in this homily, He knew that it would have a special meaning to those who lived around the sea of Galilee. When the fishermen went out and brought back in a catch of fish, before the fish would spoil they would have to be cured. Since there was no such thing as refrigeration back then, they needed to use salt for the preservation of the fish or else they would lose the catch. If the salt was applied properly, the food would last quite a while. Jesus makes this allusion to salt which everyone would have known about in the physical realm. However, Jesus was speaking about something different than just the preservation of food. Salt had a tremendous place in the Mosaic offerings and since the people in this area, many probably being Samaritans, would be familiar with the Covenant of Salt made in the books of Moses.

(Num 18:19 KJV) All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee. Whenever the Old Testament sacrifices were made, there was a mandatory adding of salt to the sacrifice. The salt represented an incorruptible covenant which was unable to be violated. It basically represented the perpetuity of that sacrifice. In other words, the adding of salt added an eternal dimension to the sacrifice which was, of course, a foreshadow of the Lord Jesus Christ’s final sacrifice for sin which also granted a perpetuity of the covenant of Grace.

(Lev 2:13 KJV) And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. Every offering was to be salted with salt which symbolized the perpetuity of the sacrifice that foreshadowed the eternal covenant which was in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was an unchanging and pure covenant of grace which was foreshadowed by the covenant of salt.

What Jesus was pointing to in this verse was that if the salt that was in a person was real, then it meant that they would be the salt of the earth. Now this has nothing to do initially with preserving society because if that was the case, then this present world would never end and a new one be created. What Jesus is speaking about here is that if the Gospel which is within you, is the pure, truthful gospel, then you are able to salt those who hear and those who hear and receive it, will be in the perpetuity of the covenant of salt. In the first part of this verse Jesus speaks of a salt which lost its saltiness. In the Valley of Salt, there is a place where there is a vein of salt which is very insipid and would have no value. In fact, it was used in the temple when the weather was bad to salt the floor so people would not slip and get hurt. That type of salt would be totally useless for food preservation. What Jesus has in view is that those who are the true salt of the earth are those who are truly saved and are bringing the true Gospel without any man-made additions such as works or signs and wonders or tongues, etc. The only way a person can be the salt of the earth is if they themselves are salt in the eternal covenant of salt, otherwise known as the true Gospel which preserves the soul for eternity. When a person is saved, they have the ability to be at peace with all people especially those who are saved. We will still be able to hold our saltiness or salvation when those who are unsaved attack us unjustly. We will still have the ability to remain in a state of peace.

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