The destination. The vision John saw on Patmos when he was an old man. After ten weeks of letters from home, this week we sit with where the road ends.

In this letter

- Where Revelation 21 sits in the Bible — the second-to-last chapter, the destination of the whole story

- The Bible as a journey home, from garden to garden-city

- A slow read of Revelation 21:1-8 (NKJV)

- The direction of the vision — the city coming down, not us going up

- Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men (v.3)

- Behold, I make all things new (v.5)

- The continuity of the new creation — not all new things, but all things new

Scripture

- Revelation 21:1-8

- Genesis 3 (the lost dwelling, referenced)

Coming tomorrow | The Sender. An old apostle on a prison island.

> There'll be more mail tomorrow.

Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome

Join us at https://hanksbiblestudy.com for more resources to help strengthen your faith.

Paul says there is no condemnation. Most of us live as if there is. Today we ask what voice we are still listening to, and whether it is the Spirit of adoption.

In this letter

- The difference between conviction and condemnation

- The accuser in Revelation 12:10

- Paul's courtroom in verses 31-34

- The cost in verse 17 — if indeed we suffer with Him

- Suffering as included in the adoption, not excluded

- The Spirit's intercession for those who cannot find words

Scripture

- Romans 8:1, 17, 33-34

- Revelation 12:10 (referenced)

The question to sit with

Where is the accuser still speaking in your life? And where are you suffering, and have not yet heard that the Spirit is groaning with you?

Coming tomorrow | The Whole Letter.

> There'll be more mail tomorrow.

Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome

Join us at https://hanksbiblestudy.com for more resources to help strengthen your faith.

Romans 8 has no characters and no narrative. The story is the structure. From no condemnation to no separation, with the Spirit of adoption crying Abba in us.

In this letter

- Katakrima (G2631) — the legal verdict of condemnation

- The flesh and the Spirit (vv. 5-13)

- Huiothesia (G5206) — adoption as a son, the Roman legal concept

- Abba — the Aramaic word Jesus prayed in Gethsemane

- The three groanings — creation, us, the Spirit

- Stenazo (G4727) — to groan deeply

- All things work together in context — not a bumper sticker

- The chain of vv. 29-30 — foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified

Scripture

- Romans 8:1-30

- Mark 14:36 (*Abba* in Gethsemane)

Greek word studies

- katakrima (κατάκριμα, Strong's G2631) — condemnation, judicial sentence

- huiothesia (υἱοθεσία, G5206) — adoption, the placing as a son

- Abba (ἀββᾶ, G5) — Aramaic for father, the child's word

- stenazo (στενάζω, G4727) — to groan

Coming tomorrow | The Address. Do you believe verse one?

> There'll be more mail tomorrow.

Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome

Join us at https://hanksbiblestudy.com for more resources to help strengthen your faith.

Paul wrote thirteen letters. Romans is the longest and most carefully built. Romans 8 is the apex. And he wrote it from the other side of twenty-five years of beatings, shipwrecks, and prisons.

In this letter

- Paul's background — Saul the Pharisee, the Damascus road

- Paul's missionary career

- Romans written from Corinth, late 50s AD

- The Roman audience and why Paul was writing to them

- The structure of Romans — problem, justification, sin and law, resolution

- Why chapter 8 is the apex of Paul's argument

- 2 Corinthians 11 — Paul's list of sufferings, which makes Romans 8 autobiography

Scripture

- Acts 9:1-19 (Damascus road, referenced)

- Romans 1:1-15 (Paul's introduction)

- 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 (Paul's sufferings, referenced)

- Romans 7:24-25 (the lament that leads into Romans 8)

Coming tomorrow | The Story. The structure of the chapter, walked slow.

> There'll be more mail tomorrow.

Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome

Join us at https://hanksbiblestudy.com for more resources to help strengthen your faith.

One of the most beloved chapters in the Bible. Paul at his theological and pastoral peak. Begins with no condemnation. Ends with nothing can separate us. Today we read the spine.

In this letter

- A reading of the key sections of Romans 8 (NKJV)

- The therefore at verse 1 and what it points back to

- The Spirit of adoption and Abba

- The Spirit's groans and our prayers

- All things work together for good in context

- The seven-fold and longer lists at the close

- More than conquerors — the apex phrase

Scripture

- Romans 8:1-2, 14-17, 26-28, 31-39

Coming tomorrow | The Sender. Paul at the apex of his most carefully built letter.

> There'll be more mail tomorrow.

Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome

Join us at https://hanksbiblestudy.com for more resources to help strengthen your faith.

The Hebrew word that runs through Ruth twenty-one times is the same word the New Testament reaches for when it describes what Christ has done. Goel. Kinsman-redeemer.

In this letter

- Goel (H1350) — kinsman-redeemer

- The four qualifications of a goel under the law

- The threshing floor as the heart of the book

- Boaz at the city gate as the pattern of Christ on the cross

- The genealogy in Ruth 4 — Obed, Jesse, David

- Matthew 1 and Ruth in the lineage of Jesus

- A direct pastoral landing for outsiders, the empty, the ones who need a redeemer

Scripture

- Ruth 3-4

- Matthew 1:5 (Ruth in the genealogy of Christ)

- Hebrews 2:11 (Jesus not ashamed to call us brothers)

- John 10:18 (referenced)

Hebrew word studies

- goel (גֹּאֵל, Strong's H1350) — kinsman-redeemer. The relative who steps in.

- davaq (H1692) — to cling (carried from Wednesday)

- hesed (H2617) — covenant lovingkindness (carried from Wednesday and from Week 4)

Next week's letter | Romans 8 — More Than.

> That's this week's letter. We'll see you Monday with another.

Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome

Join us at https://hanksbiblestudy.com for more resources to help strengthen your faith.

Three women on a dirt road. Each had to choose. Most of us would have done what Orpah did. The book is asking which one we will be.

In this letter

- Why Orpah is not the villain

- Ruth's choice as the costly one

- Hesed given and received throughout the book

- Loyalty as small, generations-shaping work

- The outsider angle — God's family tree full of outsiders

- The honest question about your own crossroads

Scripture

- Ruth 1:14-17

The question to sit with

Where in your life are you at a crossroads between the reasonable thing and the loyal thing? Where is God asking you to stay?

Coming tomorrow | The Whole Letter.

> There'll be more mail tomorrow.

Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome

Join us at https://hanksbiblestudy.com for more resources to help strengthen your faith.

A foreign widow gleans in the field of a kinsman. A midnight scene on a threshing floor. A redemption at the city gate. A baby in the arms of a grandmother who had renamed herself Bitter.

In this letter

- Walking the four chapters of Ruth

- Davaq (H1692) — Ruth's clinging, the same Hebrew word as Genesis 2:24

- Bethlehem as house of bread, the irony of the famine

- The gleaning law (Lev 19:9-10, Deut 24:19)

- Boaz's hesed toward Ruth in the field

- Under your wing — Boaz's prayer becomes Ruth's request

- The threshing floor scene, slow

- The redemption at the city gate

- Obed, Jesse, David

Scripture

- Ruth 1-4 (full)

- Genesis 2:24 (the davaq parallel)

- Leviticus 19:9-10 (gleaning law, referenced)

Hebrew word studies

- davaq (דָּבַק, Strong's H1692) — to cling, to be joined. The marriage word.

- hesed (חֶסֶד, H2617) — covenant lovingkindness. Carried from Week 4.

Coming tomorrow | The Address. The crossroads.

> There'll be more mail tomorrow.

Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome

Join us at https://hanksbiblestudy.com for more resources to help strengthen your faith.

Tradition says Samuel wrote it. The text doesn't name an author. But someone decided a Moabite widow's story needed to be preserved — and the genealogy at the end shows you why.

In this letter

- The mystery of authorship — Samuel and the Talmudic tradition

- The period of the judges as historical setting

- Why Moabites were forbidden from the assembly of the Lord (Deut 23:3)

- Ruth in the Hebrew Ketuvim (Writings) and the Megillot (festival scrolls)

- Why Ruth is read at Shavuot / Pentecost

- Matthew 1 and the women in the line of Christ

- The family tree of the Messiah, built from outsiders

Scripture

- Ruth 1:1 (the historical setting)

- Deuteronomy 23:3 (the Moabite exclusion)

- Judges 21:25 (the world Ruth was set in)

- Matthew 1:1-17 (referenced)

Coming tomorrow | The Story. Four chapters, walked slow.

> There'll be more mail tomorrow.

Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome

Join us at https://hanksbiblestudy.com for more resources to help strengthen your faith.

A short book about a foreign widow. Three deaths. A dirt road. A vow no one expected. Where you go, I will go. And the family line of Christ grew out of it.

In this letter

- Setting the book of Ruth — four chapters, the period of the judges

- A slow read of Ruth 1 (NKJV)

- The setup — famine in Bethlehem, the move to Moab, the three deaths

- The dirt road and the kiss goodbye

- The famous vow — Entreat me not to leave you

- Naomi renaming herself Mara (bitter)

Scripture

- Ruth 1

Coming tomorrow | The Sender. The outsider in the family tree of David.

> There'll be more mail tomorrow.

Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome

Join us at https://hanksbiblestudy.com for more resources to help strengthen your faith.