0 Chapters0 Books0 People0 Places

The Prayer That Moved Heaven.

Q: What Are the 70 Weeks of Daniel?

Daniel 9 gives a timeline that many believe predicted exactly when the Messiah would come.

Q: What Is the Tribulation?

The tribulation is a future period of intense suffering described in Daniel, Matthew, and Revelation. Whether it's 7 years, whether Christians go through it, and whether it's already happened are hotly debated.

Q: What Is the Abomination of Desolation?

Daniel predicted it. Jesus quoted it. It may have been fulfilled when Antiochus desecrated the temple in 167 BC, or when Rome destroyed it in 70 AD, or it may still be future. The debate continues.

Q: What Do Daniel's Prophecies Mean?

Daniel's prophecies predicted the rise and fall of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome — with stunning accuracy. His 'Son of Man' vision became Jesus' favorite title for himself.

Daniel 9 — The prayer God answered before it was even finished

10 min read

Key Takeaways

God dispatched Gabriel the moment Daniel started praying — not after he finished, not after he proved his sincerity — and the reason given was simply: "You are greatly loved."

Daniel's confession used "we" instead of "they," choosing to stand with his people's failures rather than distance himself from them.

📢 Chapter 9 — The Prayer That Moved Heaven 🕊️

had been in for decades. Empires had risen and fallen around him. He'd survived a lion's den, interpreted dreams for kings, and watched God work in places no one thought to look. But in this chapter, we see something different. Not Daniel the advisor. Not Daniel the visionary. Daniel the intercessor — a man on his knees, broken for his people.

Inside this Chapter

Hope Faith Grief Shame Prayer Forgiveness

Events in this Chapter

Daniel's Apocalyptic Visions

Questions about this Chapter

prophecy

What Are the 70 Weeks of Daniel?

prophecy

What Is the Tribulation?

prophecy

What Is the Abomination of Desolation?

prophecy

What Do Daniel's Prophecies Mean?

Share this chapter

Link copied!

What happens next stops you cold: a -and-response sequence that moves at speed. And the answer he received is still being studied, debated, and marveled at thousands of years later.

The Man Who Read the Fine Print 📖

It was the first year of reign — a who had been installed as king over the Babylonian empire. And , now an old man, was doing something remarkably simple. He was reading.

Daniel was studying the Scriptures — specifically the writings of the prophet Jeremiah — and he found a number: seventy years. That's how long God had said the desolation of Jerusalem would last. And Daniel realized the clock was almost up.

So he turned his face to the Lord God, seeking him through prayer and desperate pleas for mercy, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Here's a man who had access to kings and empires, who could have spent his final years in comfortable retirement. Instead, he's poring over old scrolls and doing math. And when the numbers added up, he didn't just celebrate — he dropped to the ground. He didn't assume the would happen automatically. He prayed like it depended on it. There's something powerful about a person who reads a promise from God and responds not with passive expectation, but with urgent, whole-body .

The Most Honest Prayer You'll Ever Read 🙏

What follows is a confession that holds nothing back. didn't pray from a distance. He didn't point fingers at "those people." He said "we." Over and over — we.

Daniel prayed to the Lord his God and confessed:

"O Lord — the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commands — we have sinned. We've done wrong. We've acted wickedly and rebelled, turning away from your commands and your rules.

We didn't listen to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our leaders, our ancestors, and to everyone in the land.

Lord, righteousness belongs to you — but open shame belongs to us. To the people of Judah, to everyone in Jerusalem, to all of Israel — both near and far, in every land where you've scattered them because of their unfaithfulness.

Open shame belongs to us, Lord. To our kings, our leaders, our ancestors — because we have sinned against you.

Mercy and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God — because we have rebelled against him. We haven't obeyed his voice or walked in his laws, the ones he gave us through his servants the prophets.

All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to listen. The curse written in the Law of Moses has been poured out on us, because we sinned against him. He confirmed every word he spoke against us and our rulers by bringing on us a disaster unlike anything that's ever happened under heaven.

Everything written in the Law of Moses — all of it has come true. And still, we didn't seek the favor of the Lord our God. We didn't turn from our wrongs or pay attention to his truth. So the Lord kept this disaster ready and brought it on us. The Lord our God is righteous in everything he does — and we simply did not listen."

Notice the pattern. Daniel wasn't bargaining. He wasn't making excuses. He wasn't listing the times they got it right. He was standing in the gap for an entire nation and saying: we earned this. Every bit of it. That takes a different kind of courage. It's easy to point out someone else's failure. It's another thing entirely to say "this is on us" — especially when Daniel himself was an exceptionally faithful person in the whole story.

The Appeal That Changes Everything 🔥

Then shifted. He'd made his confession — thorough, honest, unflinching. Now he made his appeal. And watch what he based it on. Not their track record. Not their potential. Not their promises to do better. He based it entirely on who God is.

Daniel continued:

"And now, O Lord our God — you who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and made a name for yourself that endures to this day — we have sinned. We have done wickedly.

O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger turn away from Jerusalem, your holy hill. Because of our sins and our ancestors' wrongs, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of mockery to everyone around us.

Now hear the prayer of your servant, God. Hear my pleas for mercy. For your own sake, Lord, let your face shine on your sanctuary that lies in ruins.

Hear us, my God. Open your eyes and see how devastated we are — and the city that bears your name. We're not asking because we deserve it. We're asking because of your great mercy.

O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Don't delay — for your own sake, my God — because your city and your people carry your name."

Read that last part again. Daniel's ultimate argument wasn't "do it for us." It was "do it for you." Your name is on this city. Your reputation is tied to these people. If they stay in ruins, it reflects on you. That's not manipulative — that's actually brilliant theology. God's and his people's are connected. And Daniel knew it. This is what it looks like to pray with nothing in your hands except the character of God. No leverage. No spiritual credit card. Just .

When Heaven Interrupts 👼

And then — while was still praying — something happened that should stop you in your tracks.

While Daniel was still speaking, still praying, still confessing his sin and the sin of his people Israel, still making his plea before the Lord for the holy hill of his God — the angel Gabriel, the one Daniel had seen in an earlier vision, came to him in swift flight. It was the time of the evening sacrifice.

Gabriel spoke to him and said:

"Daniel, I've come to give you insight and understanding. The moment you began to pray, a word went out. And I've come to deliver it to you — because you are greatly loved. So pay close attention and understand what you're about to hear."

He didn't even finish praying. God dispatched at the first word. Not at the "amen." Not after Daniel proved he was serious enough. At the beginning. The moment Daniel opened his mouth, moved. And the reason Gabriel gave? "You are greatly loved." Not "you've earned this." Not "your was impressive." Loved. That's the basis. That's always the basis.

Seventy Weeks ⏳

Now comes the part of this chapter that scholars have spent centuries studying. delivered a that is dense, layered, and extraordinary in its scope. This isn't casual conversation — this is a divine timeline.

Gabriel declared:

"Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city — to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for wrongdoing, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place."

Six purposes. Count them. Finish transgression. End . Atone for wrongdoing. Establish permanent . Seal up prophecy. Anoint the holiest place. That's not a minor adjustment — that's the entire story in one sentence. Whatever these seventy weeks mean — and there's significant debate — the scope of what God was promising is breathtaking. This is the full arc of . Everything broken, put back together.

The Timeline That Shook History 📅

then unpacked the timeline — and this is where it gets both fascinating and deeply complex.

Gabriel continued:

"Know and understand this: from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there will be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it will be rebuilt — with streets and defenses — but in troubled times.

After those sixty-two weeks, an anointed one will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of a prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come like a flood, and war will continue until the end. Desolations have been decreed.

He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. In the middle of that week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes everything desolate — until the decreed destruction is poured out on the one who destroys."

Scholars have spent centuries in this passage, and still come back with different answers. The "weeks" are widely understood as sets of seven years — making seventy weeks equal to 490 years. The timeline points from the rebuilding of to the coming of . An anointed one who will be "cut off" — killed — and have nothing. A city and destroyed. A final period of devastation.

Some see the entire prophecy fulfilled in and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. Others see a gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week, with the final week still future. What everyone agrees on is this: Gabriel was describing real events with real consequences, and at the center of it all stands a figure who would be anointed and then killed.

The weight of this prophecy is hard to overstate. Centuries before it happened, the timeline was laid out — a Messiah who would come not to conquer, but to be cut off. Not to take a throne by force, but to make . And the destruction that follows isn't random chaos. It's decreed. Even the worst moments of history are not outside God's knowledge.

This is the kind of passage you sit with. You don't rush past it. A man prayed in desperation, and answered with a roadmap that stretches from ancient to the end of the age. And at the center of that roadmap — an who would give everything, and have nothing left. Except a plan that was always heading somewhere.

Key Takeaways

📢 Chapter 9 — The Prayer That Moved Heaven 🕊️

Inside this Chapter

Events in this Chapter

Questions about this Chapter

What Are the 70 Weeks of Daniel?

What Is the Tribulation?

What Is the Abomination of Desolation?

What Do Daniel's Prophecies Mean?

My Notes

The Man Who Read the Fine Print 📖

The Most Honest Prayer You'll Ever Read 🙏

The Appeal That Changes Everything 🔥

When Heaven Interrupts 👼

Seventy Weeks ⏳

The Timeline That Shook History 📅