The real thing! - Exploring the ultimate conspiracy

Where is “the real thing”? There are many things in this world that are not real, but society goes to great lengths to convince us otherwise. How about a real thirst-quenching example?

I’ll drink to that!

Coca-Cola’s ‘It’s the Real Thing’ campaign was a major branding tool for Coke as it entered the 1970s. It heralded a new direction for the soft drink company which responded to research that showed young people were seeking the real, the original, and the natural as an escape from phoniness.

The rebranding started in the mid-1960s under the codename ‘Project Arden’. It was four years in the making and marked the largest ever program of its kind. It incorporated everything from identity and packaging, vehicle detailing, uniforms, and stationery, to the brand’s advertising and communications strategies.

New graphics included a bold curve design known as the ‘dynamic contour’ which reflected the familiar shape of the Coke bottle. This identity system was then brought into a new TV campaign, which used close-ups of still imagery depicting moments of ‘real life’ as shot by a range of photographers who were well known for conveying a candid aesthetic in their work.

The inherently catchy song, “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke“, was recorded subtly inserting in the last refrain, “It’s the real thing, Coke is what the world wants today”. This song went on to become the stuff of an advertising legend.

The end of an era

Then came April 23, 1985, a day that will live in marketing infamy. On that day, The Coca-Cola Company took the biggest risk in consumer goods history, announcing that after 99 years it was changing the formula for the world’s most popular soft drink.

For over a decade it had effectively convinced the world that Coke was the real thing, but now the real thing wasn’t good enough anymore. You see, their flagship product had been slowly slipping in the marketplace for 15 consecutive years. It appeared that being real and authentic would take a backseat to higher sales. Coca-Cola would have to convince the world that “the real thing” was perhaps not so real after all.

So, the company came out with a replacement product entitled “new Coke”. It sought to distance itself from the “real thing” and awkwardly sought a way to promote the new stuff as the “really-real thing”. If classic Coke was not real enough for the consumer, then was it just another phony?

It seems that almost everything in this world is fickle. Even its definition of what is real and true changes from year to year.

Is there something really real out there?

There are things in this world that are real, but society goes to great lengths to deny them. My biggest example of this is Jesus Christ. I find that whenever a person mentions Jesus in a serious manner out in public, they are met with some criticism or whispers amongst the crowd. This would never happen if they treated Jesus as a real person. Sadly, many do not. Sadly, many take the slick marketing slogan for Coke much more seriously.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

The clause “I am” can be thought of as a mathematical equal sign. In other words:

Jesus = the way + the truth + the life

This is a most meaningful equation statement. The Creator, Saviour, and Sustainer of the universe sums up the definition of Himself in just six words! Interestingly enough, they all have to do with the concept of reality. Let’s break this defining equation down for inspection.

I. Jesus says He is “the way” – the path

The phrase “the way” literally means a traveled path. It refers to a way that is real. A surveyor may look at a map and with a pencil, draw out a path that he imagines to be the best route to take through a territory to get to the other side. The surveyor’s way is not yet real, it is only imagined in his mind and on paper. Not until it has been physically traveled can it be confirmed as the real way to go.

Jesus knew this when He told His men that He was the way. Jesus had actually done the traveling Himself. He came from the heavenly Father to be with mankind. However, this phrase is much more personal.

A personal path

Jesus is really telling His disciples that not only does He know the way, but He is the way. Jesus is the actual path.

Proof abounds as to where Jesus’ true origins are found. His path started from God the Father in heaven. The Lord knew that that year’s annual Passover celebration was going to be very different than before. He knew that the next day, He was to be the sacrificial lamb of God. It was His time to suffer and die for the sins of all mankind. That meant He would have to leave those He loved dearly.

Jesus knew who would betray him. He named the man as being Judas Iscariot and told His disciples of this in advance. Jesus knew that He would be crucified the next day. Jesus knew He would be raised from the dead after three days and three nights. He publicly predicted all of this and more. It all came true and is documented. Why? Because Jesus is the path spanning between heaven and earth, between eternity and time itself. He personally traveled the route and had foreknowledge.

II. Jesus says He is “the truth” – the proof

There are many theories about the afterlife. Some people believe that we die like an animal and simply cease to exist. Some people believe that our spirit lives on by being reincarnated into another person or animal. Others believe we become spirits and invisibly float throughout the universe. There are so many theories.

Jesus reminds us that He is not a theory but a reality. Truth is something that has been tested under every possible condition and proven to be a fact. The previously mentioned theories of the afterlife are not really theories at all because they cannot be tested.

It takes so much more faith to be an atheist and believe in no afterlife than it does to be a Christian. An atheist believes we cease to exist at death, but they cannot test their belief.

So, when an atheist scoffs at a Christian’s faith, don’t debate them about Christianity as that is a mystical concept open to much interpretation. Christianity to a Catholic is different than Christianity to a Protestant. Christianity to a churchgoer is different than Christianity to a person who merely teaches comparative religions. It is a fluid concept.

Rather, than debate using Christianity, debate specifically with Jesus Christ because He is a physical, historical person. The atheist can sneer all he wants but he has no evidence of his own to refute with. Christians on the other hand have Jesus!

Proof by accomplishment

Jesus, the man who turned the water into wine at a wedding in Cana. Jesus, the man who walked on water during a storm on the Sea of Galilee. The man who immediately healed ten lepers with just one command. Jesus, the man who raised Lazarus from the dead after being buried four days wrapped in grave clothes and head dressing!

All this and so much more was eye-witnessed by thousands of people over three years and was fully documented by the gospel writers and other extra-biblical historians of Jesus’ day. Many of the eyewitnesses were people who hated Jesus, but they could not deny what He had done.

Jesus is the truth. He has been tested and verified as authentic. He is the reality that this darkened world is desperately in need of. Jesus is not a religion, He is not a concept, He is not a political party, He is not a fictional character. Jesus Christ is a real person who possesses all the attributes of the real God of the Bible!

What I appreciate most about faith in Jesus is that it is real because He is real. The Lord designed faith in Him to be factual. Everything in the Word of God can be backed up through history, geography, archaeology, psychology, rationalism, and true observational science.

Jesus is the path; Jesus is the proof; and finally…

III. Jesus says He is “the life” – the purpose

Some people have traveled extensively, attempted many different experiences, purchased things of beauty, achieved success and fame in their career, done all of that only to feel totally empty inside of their soul. Others have gained financial fortunes only to feel worthless and unworthy.

Some people feel lonely, so they get married, but that doesn’t end their loneliness. Some couples feel empty, so they have children, but that doesn’t end their emptiness. Today we have so much but we are afraid of losing it and as we live in fear of losing what we have, we desire to have even more.

Life becomes this chaotic maze of seeking but never being totally satisfied with what we find. This feeling of being incomplete can happen to Christians as well as non-believers. When Christians stop looking to Jesus, they lose sight of a purposeful life. They don’t lose their eternal salvation, but they rob themselves of experiencing true life as God wants them to experience it here on earth.

Jesus does not just demonstrate life; He is life; He is the source of life. Every cactus stretching itself forth from the dry crusty ground of the Mohave Desert, every giraffe that glides across the grasslands of East Africa, every blue whale that powerfully swims through the North Pacific Ocean, every human being striding along the seven continents on this earth derives its life from Jesus Christ.

When man sinned back in the Garden of Eden, three things happened to him: (1) he lost his communion with God; (2) He lost his knowledge of God; (3) He became dead to God. In John 14:6, we learn from Jesus Himself that He restores these three things that we lost in the Garden.

There’s more to “this” life

In addition, “the life” that Jesus provides is an absolute fullness of life sourced directly from God Himself. A life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, and blessed

Jesus provides a new life for you the moment you receive Him as your personal Saviour. If that is not enough, Jesus guarantees a resurrection for each believer in which they will shed their corrupt mortal body and be clothed in a new perfect everlasting body.

A completely new life is offered to each of us. A life where there will be no more tears of sadness because there will be no more disappointments, no more diseases, no more departures, and no more death. All of this, because of the work of one person, the Lord Jesus Christ!

So, what?

Our world is still chasing after slick marketing campaigns and numerous empty offers. We try to find comfort in brand names, religion, meditation, medication, philosophy, and hedonism. Just as best wishes don’t fill an empty stomach, spiritualized phoniness doesn’t fill an empty heart.

Today, Jesus is still the only reality this world has. All comforts, joys, and meanings are fulfilled in Him. The reality of a bloody cross and an empty tomb as witnessed by multiple individuals supply irrefutable proof that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the real thing!

Care to comment on this?

Until the next post, keep searching the DIVINE SCHEME!

Regards,
Mike MacDonald

mike@divinescheme.com

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