Coca-Cola use the slogan ‘it’s the real thing‘ to market their soft drink:
John is adamant that God is the ‘real thing.’ At the end of his first epistle, he writes ‘We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.‘ (1 John 5:20) This emphasis on Jesus being true is reiterated in his gospel (see John 15:1 where Jesus is described as the ‘true vine’; John 6:32, where He is described as the ‘true bread from heaven’ and John 1:9, where He is described as the ‘true light’, not to mention Rev 19:11, where He is described as ‘Faithful and True‘.) Eternal life, which John reminds us is one of the things we can know we have (1 John 5:13), is described as knowing the true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
One of the reasons idolatry is so futile and harmful is because it involves worship of something which is not genuinely able to help us. Hab 2:18-19 and Ps 135:15-18 remind us that that which is created by human hands, even if adorned with silver or gold, cannot actually help us. Idolatry does not simply refer to wooden or metal statues, of course. An idol is any kind of false god, anything which comes in the place of supremacy which only God deserves. We can put ourselves or other people in this place. We can end up valuing work (or the riches work brings) so much that it takes God’s place. Our hearts are deceitful (Jer 17:9) and we need to guard against this tendency to substitute the false for the genuine. John urges us to abide in Christ throughout this letter and reminds us that ‘we are in Him who is in true by being in His Son Jesus Christ.’ The ‘in Him’ statements in the New Testament are vast (see, for example, Col 1:17, 19; Eph 1:4, 7 , 13; 2 Cor 5:21; Col 2:6-7; 1 Thess 4:14). The One who holds all things together in the universe and in whom all the fullness of God dwells lives in us. His righteousness is given to us; we are rooted and built up in Him and will ultimately be raised to everlasting life if we die in Him. Why settle for a substitute? Let’s dwell in the real thing, the only true God!