A verse for 3/4/12

3/4/12

Joh 11:55  And the Jews' Passover was near. And many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover in order to purify themselves.

   The people went to purify themselves because:

A.      A.       The feast of Passover was about to commence.

B.       B.      The feast of Passover was the next festival on the calendar, though it might be months away.

C.       C.      God always wanted His people to be ready for the Passover, even though it may not be celebrated in        their generation.

D.        D.    Even though the Passover wouldn’t be celebrated for at least 2,000 years, it was possible for it to be celebrated at any time.

Even though answers B, C and D may seem to be a bit outlandish, aren’t they some of the very “explanations” given for the term “near” in the following verse?

Rev 1:3  Blessed is the one who reads and hears the Words of this prophecy, and the ones keeping the things written in it, for the time is near.

Surely the most feasible, plausible---indeed, the most natural---reading of John 11:55 is that the feast of Passover was about to commence. Otherwise, the people ran the risk of becoming defiled (losing their purified status) while awaiting its arrival. Why, then, don’t we allow the same natural understanding of the same Greek “near” for the events of Revelation?