He Answered Them Ps. 99: 9 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
The first five verses of Ps 99 clearly show us that this Psalm is doctrinally applied to the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, when he is reigning in Zion. Then the Psalmist mentions Moses, Aaron and Samuel. Moses led the Jews out of Egypt. Aaron is the beginning of the priestly line. Samuel was perhaps the greatest judge that Israel ever had.
Moses, Aaron and Samuel called upon the name of the Lord. “They called upon the Lord and he answered them,” [Ps 99:6]. What a great testimony… he answered them. According to this Psalm, there are some things we can do, like these men did, that will help our prayer life.
He answered them because:
They praised him – Ps 99:3 – they praised his great and terrible name. To praise God is to glorify God primarily through thanksgiving. 2 Cor 4:15, 9:11-13; Heb 13:15; Ps 100:4. We should praise the Lord when we pray by thanking him for all his goodness to us.
They exalted him – Ps 99:5, 9 – the Lord is great in Zion [Ps 99:2]. The people tremble [Ps 99:1]. To exalt the Lord is to lift him up, to elevate him above all. In Phil 2:9-11, God has exalted Jesus Christ and we must also exalt him. We must realize how truly grand and majestic he really is. He is so much bigger than any request we might ask of him or any problem that we may face. And he is always good and always right.
They worshipped him – Ps 99:5, 9 – to worship is to honor and reverence and to regard with great respect. This is done through our humility [Gen 24:26, 48, 52]. We exalt him; we humble ourselves [Rev 5:8, 14]. Moses fell upon his face when he prayed to the Lord. In our prayer time with the Lord, we mustn’t come in and state our request and then rush out. We must humble ourselves and stay a while to worship our God.
They called upon him – Ps 99:6 – we must pray. In salvation, we call upon the Lord and he forgives us like he forgave them [Ps 99:8]. And after we are saved, we must come to the Lord often in prayer. Daniel prayed three times each day. David prayed three times each day. We are missing out in the great work of prayer because we spend more time telling others about our problems and telling them what we want them to pray about than talking to God about these matters. He’s the one we must be calling upon.
They obeyed him – Ps 99:7 – they kept his testimonies and the ordinance that he gave them. Moses was meek [submissively obedient]. Samuel was able to reprove Saul, the king, for his disobedience because Samuel was obedient. We cannot expect God to do everything we’re asking him to do for us when we won’t even do the things he commands of us. We must obey him if we want to be able to call upon him and have him answer us.
Conclusion: the Lord has given us the great ministry of prayer at BBBC. We must take seriously this ministry and follow what these great men did. How great it is to be able to pray with confidence that God hears us and answers our prayers.