Matthew 27:62-66 English Standard Version
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
We can only imagine what was on the minds of the priests and Pharisees when they called Jesus an imposter. We know that they said this to Pilate which makes their meaning even more complicated because it takes into account what Pilate thought and what influences he had over the previous day’s events.
Were they saying Jesus was a false Messiah or a false King? We tend to draw our own conclusions on these matters based on our own personal understanding of the scriptures. In some ways those who accused Jesus of being an imposter might have done the same thing. They might have gotten the interpretation of the coming Messiah wrong and Jesus did not fit what they believed.
This is one of the things we have to deal with in reading the scriptures. The word reveals what was said and done without dealing with the motivations. We can only look at what is said and done and draw our own conclusions. Scriptures only take us so far in what is revealed.
These men did everything within the power to hold onto their beliefs and motives and Christ proved them to be wrong. Everyone who said He was not the Messiah was proven wrong. Everyone who said there is no resurrection were proven wrong. Everyone who said there is no life after death was proven wrong.
Then there was that group who in the face of the truth still denied the truth. For their own reasons they refused to accept they were wrong.
That sounds a little like people that live today, acting on their own beliefs and motives with total disregard for the truth.
What is the truth? Jesus Christ will reveal the truth when we meet Him and we will no longer be able to deny we were wrong.
Come, meet Jesus Christ. He is no imposter.