Was Jesus Describing An Eternal Conscious Afterlife In Mark 9:48?

Was Jesus describing an eternal conscious afterlife in hell when He Said:

"Where the worms that eat them do not die and the fire is not quenched"? (Mark 9:48)

Short answer...No.

A longer explanation...

...Jesus was quoting Isaiah 66:24.

Isaiah 65-66 was a prophecy concerning judgment on the old-covenant people of Israel who rejected Jesus as the Christ.

This judgment would end the old covenant heaven and earth age of law and establish the new covenant heaven and earth age of grace.

This final, old covenant law judgment was fulfilled from AD 66 to 70 when the Roman armies were used by God to judge old covenant, Christ-rejecting and believer killing Israel.

Jesus, anticipating this judgment, quoted Isaiah 66:24.

Isaiah 66:24 says,

"And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

The dead bodies were the Israelites who rebelled against God by rejecting Jesus and killing those who believed in him as the Christ.

They were judged by God using the Roman armies from AD 66-70.

In the context of Mark 9:48, Jesus interpreted Isaiah 66:24 as Gehenna (not hell; the word hell is not in the BIble) - a place or valley outside Jerusalem were burnings of refuse and dead bodies took place.

Jesus used Gehenna as a metaphor describing the real burning of the land and cities of Israel by the Roman armies during the final old covenant judgment, resulting in many deaths.

The "undying worm" and "unquenchable fire" are hyperbolic metaphors describing judgment upon first-century, old covenant, Christ-rejecting Israel when Jerusalem and the temple were burned down.

In Matthew 22:7, Jesus spoke about the burning down of Jerusalem by an army.

"The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city." (Matthew 22:7)

The king was God.

The army was the Roman army.

The murderers were the Israelites who rejected Jesus as the Christ and killed many of the Israelites who did believe.

The city that burned was Jerusalem.

The dead bodies in this judgment are described by Jesus when he quoted Isaiah 66:24 in Mark 9:48:

"Where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched."

With these words, Jesus was not describing an eternal conscious afterlife in hell but an eternal judgment on old-covenant Israel in the first century.

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