Tag Archives: 1 Corinthians 15

Schopenhauer on Happiness (3c, Ecclesiastes)

23 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by in Ecclesiastes, Happiness, Philosophy, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Schopenhauer quite rightly notes that all is impermanent and all will decay. His solution is to reject all hope and expectation and thus avoid disappointment. As we have seen from Shakespeare and Shelley, this is not the only potential response. One could bemoan the tragedy of loss (Macbeth), receive the knowledge with equanimity (Tempest), or realize there will be loss and thus hold more tightly to and cherish what is good knowing that it will all soon be lost (Shakespeare & Shelley).

Another response is the redemption of all that is lost. The book of Ecclesiastes famously declares, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”. Eccl. 1:2 Vanity translates a Hebrew word Hebel, which refers to something which is transient, insubstantial, like a breath or mist. From that, the writer draws the conclusion that nothing is world is sufficient to bring contentment to anyone in this life:

Ecclesiastes 2:10–11 (ESV)

10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

That however does not end the matter:

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 (ESV)

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

That matter of bringing everything into judgment may sound ominous. However, what it means in the context of the world being temporal is that the world is also meaningful: There will be a date on which all things which be confirmed as having eternal significance.  The solution to the temporality of the world is not renounce the world and all its good; nor is it to love in despair. Rather, knowing that the temporal world will be judged and remade as a permanent matter will make this world and life meaningful.

In the 15th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthian church Paul lays out the Christian doctrine of the resurrection, wherein even the human body will not be lost but will be remade in an unchanging manner:

1 Corinthians 15:42 (ESV)

 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.

In light of the resurrection, our life and work is not meaningless:

1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)

 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

By stating their labor is not in vain, Paul is underscoring the permanence of human existence. The mutability of the world is not the last word. The Christian sees the world as temporal, along with the Buddhist, but rather than seeing the end as dissolution, sees the end as permanence:

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (ESV)

 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Therefore, happiness is not contingent upon renunciation, nor must one “cross-fingers”, and know that the joy will be destroyed. Rather, the goal is set hope upon permanent joys.

Horatius Bonar, The Flesh Resting in Hope

27 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in Horatius Bonar, Hymns, Literature, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

34873626335_e74aee6c70_o

[The headstone reads, “Thomas E, son of W.L. & [?] White, Born Sept. 26, 1871, Died Dec. 26, 1871.” The photo was found on flickr, photographer “Midnight Believer”; Sulphur Springs Cemetery; Crittenden County, Kentucky. No copyright claimed, but thank you anyway.]

 

Lie down, frail body here,

Earth has no fairer bed,

No gentler pillow to afford;

Come, rest thy home-sick head.

 

Lie down, “vile body” here [“vile body” is from Phil. 3:21]

This mould is smoothly strewn,

No couch of flowers more softly spread;

Come, make this grave thine own.

 

Lie down with all thy aches,

There is no aching here;

How soon shall all thy-long ills

Forever disappear!

 

Through these well guarded gates

No foe can entrance gain;

No sickness wastes, nor once intrudes

There memory of pain.

 

The tossing of the night,

The frettings of the day,

All and, and like a cloud of dawn,

Melt from thy skies away.

 

Brief night and quiet couch

In some star-lighted room,

Watched but by one beloved eye,

Whose light dispels all gloom.

 

A sky without a cloud,

A sea without a wave–

These are but shadows of rest

In this thy peaceful grave.

 

Rest for the toiling hand,

Rest for the thought-worn brow,

Rest for the weary way-sore feet,

Rest from all labor now.

 

Rest for the fevered brain,

Rest for the throbbing eye;

Thro’ these parched lips of thine no more

Shall pass the moan or sigh.

 

Soon shall the trump of God

Give out the welcomed sound,

That shakes the silent chamber-walls,

And breaks the turf-sealed ground.

 

Ye dwellers in the dust,

Awake, come forth and sing;

Sharp has your frost of winter been,

But bright shall be your spring.

 

‘Twas sown in weakness here,

‘Twill then be raised in power;

That which was sown an earthly seed,

Shall rise a heavenly flower.

 

1 Corinthians 15:42–49(ESV)

42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Edward Taylor, Would God I in that Golden City Were.1

19 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by in Edward Taylor, Literature, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

14764489751_d8dc35e816_o

(Jasper)

Would God I in that Golden City were,
With jasper walls all garnished and made swash
With precious stones, whose gates are pearls most clear
And street pure gold, like to transparent glass.
That my dull soul might be inflamed to see
How saints and angels ravished are in glee.

The reference here is the city of the New (heavenly) Jerusalem:

18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

Revelation 21:18–21 (AV).

Meter: Note in the first line there is the standard iamb, followed by a trochee which forces attention upon the I: would GOD I in that GOLden CITy WERE. It is his presence in the place which is emphasized in the meter.

Paraphrase: The poet wishes that he could be present in the age to come, in the heavenly Jerusalem come down to earth (for the goal of Christianity is not some far away place, but heaven and earth together). The trouble lies with his “dull soul”. This is a constant them in Taylor: the present inability to truly enjoy the glory of God. In the Ascension poems, he would that he could bare the sight of Christ entering into glory and being seated. Here, he wishes for the age to come. This tension will only be resolved by the resurrection:

42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 15:42–44 (AV).

Were I but there and could but tell my story,
‘Twould rub those walls of precious stones more bright:
And glaze those gates of pearl with brighter glory;
And pave the golden street with greater light.
‘Twould in fresh raptures saints and angels fling
But I poor snake crawl here, scare mud walled in.
Reference “I poor snake crawl here”. I an ironic reference to Genesis 3:1 where the Serpent (Satan) appears as a snake to tempt Eve. Genesis 3:15 makes reference to the “seed/offspring of the serpent”. Being subjected to the Fall and the Curse, human beings have now been brought low.

Meter: “Story/Glory”, end the first and third lines. The line scan 11 syllables with a feminine rhyme on the 10 & 11th syllables.

Paraphrase: The story of the poet’s salvation (his coming to this city) of such a marvel that if it were known, it would impart a greater glory to the place than is possible in the mere stones and gold. Those things are beautiful, but the story of the poet’s salvation is greater still.
May my rough voice and blunt tongue but spell my
My tale (for tune they can’t) perhaps there may
Some angel catch in an end of’t up and tell
In heaven when he doth return that way
He’ll make they palace, Lord, all over ring
With it in songs, they saint and angels sing.
Meter: In the first line of the phrase “blunt tongue” again creates a pair of accented syllables by running a trochee after an iamb. The effect is jarring, underscoring the bluntness of his tongue.

Reference: The purpose of salvation is bring glory to God. As Paul writes in Ephesians:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Ephesians 1:3–6 (AV)

Paraphrase: The poet is unable to sing in any manner worthy of God’s glory (much less saints made perfect or the angelic world). Therefore, he will “spell” his story: he will write it out in this poem. His hope is that by spelling it out, an angel may over his story and bring the story back to heaven where the angel’s far greater abilities will make it possible to recount the story (given in this poem) in a song worthy of God’s gory.

As Charles Wesley wrote:

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.

 

From Dust to Glory: the remembrance of God

18 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by in 1 Corinthians

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

We were created by God from dust

then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 

Gen2.7

Our descent goes back to this son of God made from dust

the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. 

Luke3.38

And yet in our trials we can wonder whether God remembers that he created us from dust:

8 Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. 

9 Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? 

Job10.8-9

God does not forget

13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. 

Ps103.13-14

God’s care does not end with the mere remembrance that we are dust. His live will extend to the transformation of our bodies:

42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

1Cor15.42-49

This end our adoption – the resurrection of our bodies no longer as dust is the hope of the entire creation 

22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 

Rom8.22-23

George Herbert, Dialogue Anthem: Christian, Death

05 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by in George Herbert, Literature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

8616978286_e007c4c4f1_o

A DIALOGUE-ANTHEM.

CHRISTIAN, DEATH.

Chr. ALAS, poor Death ! where is thy glory ?
Where is thy famous force, thy ancient sting ?
Dea. Alas, poor mortal, void of story !
Go spell and read how I have killed thy King.
Chr. Poor Death ! and who was hurt thereby ?
Thy curse being laid on Him makes thee accurst.
Dea. Let losers talk, yet thou shalt die ;
These arms shall crush thee.
Chr. Spare not, do thy worst.
I shall be one day better than before ;
Thou so much worse, that thou shalt be no more.

1 Corinthians 15:50–58 (ESV)

50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55  “O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Biblical Conflict Resolution Part 1

28 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by in 1 Corinthians, Biblical Counseling, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

COUNSELING PROBLEMS AND BIBLICAL CHANGE
BIBLICAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Redeeming church conflict is less about resolving specific problems than it is about seeing conflict as a means by which God is growing his people into true saints, true eternal children of who are being continuous conformed to his holy image.
—Barthel & Edling, Redeeming Church Conflicts

INTRODUCTION
Conflict resolution is the practical outworking of a cure for a spiritual disease. This week we will first take a look at both spiritual health & the spiritual disease. We will not be going through any of the mechanics of restoration and resolution. The education of a medical doctor does not begin with surgery and medication, but rather with training in disease, germs, health, anatomy, physiology, et cetera; and so, neither will we.
In fact, a too-quick jump to mechanics without an understanding of disease and health can easily lead to worse problems. Therefore, we will look at this situation from the prospective of spiritual mechanics of the heart, before we look to interpersonal mechanics.
II. PEACEMAKING AND FELLOWSHIP
Peacemaking is the act of restoring/developing true Christian fellowship. Peacemaking, understood rightly, is worship and seeks to create deeper, more God-glorifying worship. Peacemaking is an act of love, in that seeks to restore relationships between human & God, and between brother & sister. Thus, peacemaking is based upon fellowship and develops/restores fellowship.
A. Something in Common
Fellowship simply means to hold something in common:

Fellowship (Gk. koinōnía). The communion or common faith, experiences, and expressions shared by the family of believers, as well as the intimate relationship they have with God.

Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 380.

When we speak of “fellowship” we are speaking of communion, holding something in common; we are not speaking of just friendship.

Since fellowship hinges upon having something in common with another, it is type of relationship which can develop quickly and will continue as long as the thing in common continues to draw the people into relationship. Consequently, it is a type of relationship which will end as soon as the basis for the relationship is withdrawn. Thus, it is fundamentally different than most friendships.

We know and experience fellowship at various levels and over various things. Some fellowship is very thin. Employees of a company have a sort of fellowship in common in that they have experiences, concerns, interests which are in common and based upon their common employment. If the group from work goes out to dinner together, they will most likely center their attention on their common interest: work.

Continue reading →

Death, Where is Your Victory?

24 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in 1 Corinthians, George Herbert, Literature, Resurrection

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

To understand Herbert’s poem, you must first understand his text, 1 Corinthians 15:

50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

DEATH

By George Herbert

Death, thou wast once an uncouth hideous thing,
Nothing but bones,
The sad effect of sadder groans:
Thy mouth was open, but thou couldst not sing.

For we considered thee as at some six
Or ten years hence,
After the loss of life and sense,
Flesh being turned to dust, and bones to sticks.

We looked on this side of thee, shooting short;
Where we did find
The shells of fledge souls left behind,
Dry dust, which sheds no tears, but may extort.

But since our Savior’s death did put some blood
Into thy face,
Thou art grown fair and full of grace,
Much in request, much sought for as a good.

For we do now behold thee gay and glad,
As at Doomsday;
When souls shall wear their new array,
And all thy bones with beauty shall be clad.

Therefore we can go die as sleep, and trust
Half that we have
Unto an honest faithful grave;
Making our pillows either down, or dust.

Oswald Chambers, The Psychology of Redemption.3

02 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by in 1 Corinthians, Anthropology, Biblical Counseling, Oswald Chambers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

The previous post in this series can be found here:https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/oswald-chamers-the-psychology-of-redemption-2/

Chambers rejects the contention that “flesh” or the body is the seat of corruption:

The first man is of the earth, earthy. (1 Corinthians 15:47)

This is man’s glory, not his shame, because it is in a creature made of the earth that God is going to manifest His glory. We are apt to think that being made of the earth is our humiliation, but it is the very point that is made much of in God’s word. In the Middle Ages it was taught that sin resided in the actual fleshly body, and that therefore the body was a clog and a hindrance. The Bible says that the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, not a thing to be despised. Sin is not in having a body and a nature that needs to be sacrificed; sin is in refusing to sacrifice them at the call of God. Sin is a disposition which rules the body, and regeneration means not only that we need not obey the disposition of sin, but that we can be absolutely delivered from it (Romans 6:6).

This is no insignificant point. If one holds that the corruption or the continued corruption of the human being after conversion rests in the physical body (as do some now, and as has been common in the history of the world), one will look to subdue the physical body by mere regime, and then eventually to escape the body.

Yet, if, as Chambers has it, the trouble is in one’s disposition, the solution will require outside help. In the form where one merely has an unruly set of bones and muscles, there is still an “I” (thinking, willing) who is right and can thus correctly determine in opposition to my body. Yet, if the fault lies in my thinking and willing — if it lies in my heart — the trouble is significantly more serious. There is no autonomous “I” who can correctly chart a course.

We must not stand aloof

23 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in 1 Corinthians, Union With Christ

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

“Now these observations of the apostle disclose to us, we conceive, the true ground of the doctrine of union with Christ. A Redeemer has been given to man. He has been constituted “the last Adam,” “the second Man;” (1 Cor. xv. 45, 47;) and through His work of atonement and mediation, the sentence of condemnation may be reversed,—a new spiritual life may be imparted to us,— and our entire nature be eternally glorified with Him. But to enjoy these benefits, we must not stand aloof from Him; we must “come” unto Him; and it is when we are “in Him” that every spiritual blessing is ours: we have access to the Father,—the Spirit dwells in our hearts to comfort, and sanctify, and keep us,—and heaven opens to us its glories and its joys.”

Henry Wilkinson Williams. “Union with Christ.” 1857

Edward Taylor: Meditation on Canticles 2.1e (The Medicine of the Resurrection)

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in 1 Corinthians, Edward Taylor, Psalms, Song of Solomon

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The first stanzas of the poem set out the decision to seek the Rose of Sharon. The second stanza ends with:

                        the Sparke of Love out breaths
To Court this Rose: and lodgeth in its leaves.

At this point, the poem moves to praise and prayer. Taylor moves back and forth between extolling the beauty of the Rose and praying for the gift and blessing of the Rose.

The first praise is that the Rose exceeds the flowers of “Garzia Horti”.  Professor Rainwater explains the reference thus:

‘Meditation 1.4’ refers to the “flowers of Garza Horti”, which is doubtless a Latinized reference to Garcia D’Orta. Debus, Man and Nature in the Renaissance  remarks tha a Latin text of D’Orta’s work existed (47)

“‘The Brazen Serpent Is a Doctor’s Shop:’ Edward Taylor’s Medical Vision” by Catherine Rainwater; in American Literature and Science, Edited y Robert Scholnick, 1992 University Press of Kentucky; page 38, fn. 26. D’Orta’s book is available in an English translation as Colloquies of the Simples and Drugs of India here: http://archive.org/details/colloquiesonsimp00orta The book discusses various natural medicines of India.  Thus, this initial praise of the poem is that the Rose of Sharon exceeds all other medicines of the world.

Indeed, the poem’s praise and prayer  will move from beauty as such to medicinal properties. The third and fourth stanzas concern the beauty of the Rose:

No Beauty sweet in all the World so Choice: 

The Rose is “fairest”; it “blushes in beauty bright”. The perfume of the Rose is praised in the fourth stanza and becomes the basis of the first prayer:

19   Lord lead me into this sweet Rosy Bower:
20      Oh! Lodge my Soul in this Sweet Rosy bed:
21   Array my Soul with this sweet Sharon flower:
22      Perfume me with the Odours it doth shed. 

 Although not the most common element of praise in the Bible, the perfume of Christ is not without example:

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 2 Corinthians 2:14–16 (ESV)

 When seen in this light, the movement from perfume to medicinal imagery seems natural.  Paul uses the imagery (if you will) of perfume of Christ as that which saves one from death – it brings life. Thus, Taylor, without question familiar with the text, would naturally move from perfume to saving and restoration to life.

In the fifth stanza, Taylor follows this line of thought and raises the matter of blood:

The Blood Red Pretious [precious] Syrup of this Rose

Doth all Catholicons excell what ere.

The blood of Christ is the great “catholicon” (universal remedy) for sin and death. Taylor states that this medicine will “purge”. He then prays that the God use the blood to “purge” his soul.  The first detail of what must be purged comes in line 30

Chase all thine Enemies out of my land. 

Here, Taylor takes up another strand of Scripture: The prayer for deliverance from enemies:

A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN HE FLED FROM ABSALOM HIS SON. 1 O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; 2 many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. Selah 3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. 4 I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah 5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. 6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. 7 Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. 8 Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people! Selah Psalm 3 (ESV)

Now the blood of Christ – which is certainly a reference to his death – was given to destroy the greatest of all enemies:

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:26 (ESV)

In the 15th chapter of Corinthians, Paul sets out the Gospel and the hope of the resurrection – which has become possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus:

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 1 Corinthians 15:1–8 (ESV)

Taylor in this meditation notes that the great medicine of this Rose is to be had only because the Rose was first killed – and yet the Rose was restored:

49   But, oh! alas! that such should be my need
50      That this Brave Flower must Pluckt, stampt, squeezed bee,
51   And boyld up in its Blood, its Spirits sheed,
52      To make a Physick sweet, sure, safe for mee.
53      But yet this mangled Rose rose up again
54      And in its pristine glory, doth remain. 

Thus, Taylor’s meditation is a meditation upon Gospel – the victory of Jesus over death and sin. His remedy is and hope is the hope of glory:

61   My Dear-Sweet Lord, shall I thy Glory meet
62      Lodg’d in a Rose, that out a sweet Breath breaths.
63   What is my way to Glory made thus sweet,
64      Strewd all along with Sharons Rosy Leaves.
65      I’le walk this Rosy Path: World fawn, or frown
66      And Sharons Rose shall be my Rose, and Crown. 

In so doing, Taylor continues to meditate in the vein of 1 Corinthians 15, which ends:

50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:50–57 (ESV)