Alive or Dead?
I Corinthians 15:12-26
By Harold D. Dinsmore, M.Div.
Ó2008 Harold D. Dinsmore 

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by the old west; cowboys and Indians, the good guys and the bad guys.  I watched shows like Bonanza, Gunsmoke and every John Wayne western I could.  I was also interested in Jesse James because of the first daylight bank robbery that took place in Liberty.  I remember getting some old-looking wanted posters of the James gang which said, in big, bold letters across the top:  WANTED:  DEAD OR ALIVE.  The reward in that case didn’t rest upon them being in the living state – they were worth just as much dead as they were alive.

When it comes to Christianity, we find just the opposite, though it is more important for Jesus to be alive!  The state wanted Jesus dead, the Jews wanted Jesus dead.  They wanted to put an end to this new Kingdom talk He was spreading around.  So the plans were made to kill him and they pulled it off, or so they thought.  Because Jesus said, in John 10:16-18, that no one takes His life from Him because He has the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again.

It was all in His plan.  Now the dead or alive thing is to be considered as a question.  Dead or alive?