One of the most effective preachers of the gospel was the apostle Paul. After a long career of witnessing for Christ throughout much of the Mediterranean world, the Jews arrested him and sought to kill him. But their hands were tied because he was a Roman citizen protected by Roman law. When they handed him over to the Roman authorities and laid false charges against him, he appealed to Caesar. He was then taken to Rome for trial. The physician Luke, his traveling companion in several earlier journeys, accompanied him. Many scholars believe that in Rome, Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts to assist in Paul’s defense. Theophilus was probably a Roman official who was hearing the case.

Luke’s purpose in writing Acts explains his choice of themes. Throughout the book he makes three points: 1) that Paul and other preachers of Christianity have never encouraged rebellion against the Romans; 2) that their preaching has often started riots only because the Jews hate the new religion; and 3) that the followers of the new religion are model citizens, devoted to good works, worship of God, and loving fellowship with each other.

Joshua has two themes. One looks backward, the other forward.

In relation to all that preceded it in God’s program, Joshua is the book of fulfilled promise. For centuries, God had predicted that Israel would possess the land of Canaan. He revealed the nation’s future occupation of the land to Abraham (Gen. 13:14-18; 15:13-21), Isaac (Gen. 26:1-5), Jacob (Gen. 35:10-12), and Moses (Ex. 3:7-10). In Joshua we have the record of how God brought this ancient promise to pass.

Joshua also pictures how another promise would be fulfilled in the remote future. Much older than anything God told Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob is His decree known as the Protevangelium (Gen. 3:15), which He issued not long after the creation of the world and which He made more specific when He again declared it to Abraham (Gen. 22:16-18). God said that someday a man would be born who would defeat Satan and the works of Satan and thus bring blessing to the whole world. That man has come, and His name is Jesus Christ. Several Old Testament characters anticipate Christ in their character and deeds. We refer to them as types of Christ. Among the most important is Moses’ successor, Joshua.

No sooner had Jesus begun His earthly ministry than He ran headlong into opposition from the religious leaders of His day. His most vocal and active enemies belonged to the party of Pharisees. We can summarize all the faults of their brand of religion by saying that it was a religion of the visible. They thought that God cared chiefly about what they said and did in the sight of others, and that God showed His pleasure or displeasure with a man's way of life by altering his external circumstances, making them comfortable if he was righteous, difficult if he was not.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus showed that true religion is a religion of the invisible. God cares chiefly about the condition of a man's heart, not about His outward conduct. And comfortable circumstances are not a sign of His pleasure with a man's life. On the contrary, the life of a righteous man is marked by trouble and sorrow.