The God of the Gate
January. As we flip the calendar this week, few will have thoughts of the origins of the first month’s name that greets us in the new year. As with many things in Western society, we have the Romans to thank for this name. In their complex mythology, Janus was the “god of the gate” who oversaw all transitions, whether they were seasons, times, or stages of life. Doorways and gates often depicted the two-faced deity, with one face looking toward the past and the other looking toward the future. In these depictions, some included the god holding a key to symbolize his control of passage. The name of the first month, January, pays tribute to his control of the coming of a new year.
While ancient mythologies are chock-full of foolishness (“silly myths,” as the Apostle Paul wrote in I Timothy 4:7), they sometimes do hold a grain of truth passed down amidst a myriad of contortions. While Janus is the product of elaborate imaginations, there is a God, the God of Heaven and Earth, who is, indeed, the God of the Gate. Centuries ago, as He prepared His reluctant servant Moses to deliver Israel from bondage, He made this known. When Moses asked what to say if they asked for the name of who sent Him, the Lord replied, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’” While there have been years of discussion on the Lord’s implication in providing this moniker, one thing stands clear: the God coming to rescue His people is always in the present tense. He is the God who shaped the past, the God who controls the present, and the God who can see the future.
As we stand on the brink of a new year, we do well to remember that it is God, not us, who sees the future. In fact, the writer James warned about this idea when he wrote,
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (4:13-16)
Likely, many of us already have our 2024 calendars underway; vacations, business trips, doctor’s appointments, and the like are scheduled with certainty. While there is nothing wrong with planning, it should always be remembered that there is no guarantee that life will go as anticipated. God stands at the gate wanting us to realize the faith necessary to believe that no matter what may happen in 2024, He can be trusted. As hymnist Ira Stanphill once penned, “Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand; but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.”
One other grain of truth found in the Janus myth is his possession of a key. As Jesus wrote to the church at Philadelphia, He stated, “The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens” (Revelation 3:7). Keys represent access and the bearer of the keys has control. As He let the church in Philadelphia know, His control is absolute. What should be of great comfort in the coming year is that no matter what happens, nothing can keep the faithful from their God. This includes even the final enemy. Though some will be alive and well at the Lord’s return, most of humanity will experience death. While this is neither a pleasant nor natural thought, there is great comfort in knowing that our Savior has overcome and allows passage to eternal life. The One who holds the key is the One who stands at the gate of eternity.
If the Lord does not return first, 2024 will be like every other year of human history; babies will be born, laughter will rise from the family dinner table, weddings will be celebrated, funerals will occur, politics will divide, unexpected events of life, both good and bad, will catch us off guard, and twelve months from now, many will say, “I can’t believe another year has passed.” Regardless of what the year offers, know that the God of the Gate loves you and wants you with Him eternally. This is no myth!
