Pentecost Eve (Three Year Lectionary—Series B)

Exodus 19:1–9
Romans 8:12–17 (22–27)
John 14:8–21

Our Lord Makes Us His Holy People and Seals Us with His Spirit

At Mount Sinai, “Israel encamped before the mountain, while Moses went up to God” (Ex. 19:2–3). Through Moses, God gave the Law and sealed His covenant through sacrifice. The Lord made Israel His “treasured possession among all peoples,” as well as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:5–6), if they would listen to His voice and do what He had spoken. In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, who has come down to us and gone up to God by way of His death and resurrection. He has fulfilled the Law and poured out His own blood as the New Covenant. Therefore, “that the Father may be glorified in the Son,” He will do whatever we ask in His name (John 14:13–14). He gives “another Helper … even the Spirit of truth” to be with us forever (John 14:16–17). The Spirit helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us “with groanings too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26). Now we pray with confidence as we eagerly await “the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19).