THEOSISTheophan the Recluse
Throughout history, there have been instances among the people of God where one or more kings have ascended to the throne, influenced by the traditions of nearby pagan nations, leading to the rise of idolatry in their lands. Idols proliferated across the hills, groves, city squares, and even within the temple itself. The worship of these false gods replaced the reverence for the true God. However, when God raised up rulers after His own heart, like Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah, their primary mission was to purify the temple, the city, the hills, groves, and the entire realm from such idols. Evil was driven out, and righteousness was restored. The one true God was glorified and worshipped in the temple, throughout the city, in the hills, and across the fields.
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God was once again visibly recognized as their King.
A parallel occurs within us as well. Each person can be seen as a small kingdom, with ourselves—our consciousness and will—as the reigning monarch. The subjects of this realm are the forces of our existence, encompassing body, soul, and spirit. The heart represents God's sanctuary within us. When our king—consciousness and freedom—turns away from God and becomes self-focused or fixated on created things, passions and sinful tendencies rise up as idols, filling our entire being. Each aspect of body and soul becomes a venue for the worship of these false idols, and the true God is forgotten. Instead, we may find ourselves serving in the body desires such as indulgence, laziness, lust, desire for sleep, and revelry in entertainment, much like the pagans worshipped Venus and Bacchus. In our souls, we might yield to vanity, the need for approval, selfish ambitions, envy, and the desire to be admired, resulting in a myriad of idols formed from selfishness and entrenched self-centeredness. We then serve these false gods with all our strength, living in either fear or contempt toward God.
But when God's mercy intervenes and He sends the spirit of reverence and humility, our king awakens—our consciousness and freedom. Turning back to God, we begin earnestly to cleanse our kingdom of all idols, expelling passions from every facet of our being, and replacing them with corresponding virtues that honor God, committing solely to serve Him as a way of life. In our hearts, this transformation results in self-denial and devotion to God, while in our souls and bodies, the fruits of the Spirit—such as humility, meekness, temperance, purity, love, peace, patience, and diligence—flourish, all aimed at pleasing God in complete dependence on Him and a sense of obligation to honor His will and glory. Thus, a Godward mindset, love for God, devotion, and worship are restored within us. God is enthroned in our hearts, and everything contrary to Him—both great and small, internal and external—is cast out and destroyed. This marks the true establishment of God's reign within us.