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Sep 20, 2026

Praying in the Pause | Thriving in Babylon

Praying in the Pause | Thriving in Babylon

Passage: Daniel 9:1-27

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Thriving In Babylon

Category: Sunday Sermons

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Praying in the Pause | Daniel 9 What does Daniel 9 teach us about prayer, waiting on God, and trusting His promises? After nearly seventy years in exile, Daniel reads God’s promise through Jeremiah and realizes that the time for his people’s return is approaching. Instead of waiting passively, he turns to God with his full attention, praise, confession, and requests. Praying in the Pause walks through five practices from Daniel’s prayer that we can use in our own lives. It also explores God’s response through Gabriel and the seventy weeks prophecy, which the sermon connects to Jesus, His return, and the grace available to us today. Whether you’re learning how to pray or wondering why an answer hasn’t come yet, Daniel’s example encourages you to keep seeking God and live faithfully while you wait.

Well, listen, we're glad you're here today. If you're joining us online, thank you for being here as well. If you got a copy of scripture, I want you to go ahead. Turn with me today to Daniel chapter nine. All right, Daniel chapter nine, we're going to rejoin our ancient friend at this point, Daniel. We've been walking through this text and watching how in the book of Daniel, none other than Daniel and his friends, every step of the way, have chosen to obey God, have chosen to live in a land that doesn't honor God, but their lives have thrived. And what we've said every single week is that we're pulling principles from Daniel and how he stood and how God blessed. We're pulling them into 2026 and we're asking ourselves, how can we thrive and how can we live in our land? Now, Daniel has served God for so long at this point in Babylon, you would think that it almost feels like home, but it's not.

Even though he has served three kings at this point, even though he has been faithful every step of the way, even though he has worked in government for almost 70 years without a flaw, that might be the biggest miracle in the whole book, even though he has stood, even though he was thrown into the lion's den and God has delivered him, even though he's now been raised to number three in the whole kingdom, God still has his mind set back on home, set back on Israel, set back on the restoration of the temple and God's people being delivered back home. And what we've seen in this whole journey through Daniel is we've seen the first chapters, the narrative chapters of Daniel that have shown us his life and how he thrives and how we can thrive. Last week we saw in chapter seven and eight, the first of the installment of the future looking things that Daniel gives us that we call prophecy.

Now, prophecy is nothing but a forward-looking promise of God. So what we're doing in these last chapters that last week and this week, and we're going to actually finish the book of Daniel next week, what we're doing in these chapters is we're actually getting a glimpse into Daniel's journal, into these movements of God in his life, these times where God spoke to him and God showed him His character, where God showed him a little bit more of who God is and where God actually showed Daniel some of the timeline of the things that were to come. You say, "Matt, why is that even a big deal?" It's a huge deal because if we know that we can rest in God's promises, we know that we can make it through tomorrow. So what God is doing is he's actually showing Daniel these moments of these God touches where God is showing him, "You're going to make it and I am in control."

So listen, this week as we turn the page over into chapter nine of Daniel, we're not only going to get a glimpse into kind of his just general journal, we're actually going to get a glimpse into Daniel's prayer life. Now we've said it 100 times throughout this series that it just seems like anytime something comes up in Daniel's life, he is praying. And we're going to see today why. In fact, let me give you Daniel's prayer equation for his life. And this is kind of a little bit of a statement for you math people, maybe it'll help you out because we're going to see today his prayer life and God answer his prayer because here's what Daniel knows about prayer. You can write this in your notes. I'll put it on the screens for you. It's that God's promises plus a desperate prayer from a person that is seeking God's heart always equals heaven moving. That's why Daniel continues in every circumstance, whether it's a dream, whether it's a lion's den, whether it's a moment with his boys, whatever it is, this whole book, we watch Daniel come before God.

Now listen, today we're actually going to get to see his prayer. We're going to see a model prayer today. One of the biggest questions that we get in pastoral counseling is, "Matt, I want to pray, but I just don't know how to pray." You're going to see five things that Daniel does in his prayer today that you can put into your prayer life tomorrow. We're going to see the prayer and then on the backside, God willing, all right, if we make it through this thing, we're going to see the answer to the prayer of Daniel. All right, let's jump into the text. Daniel chapter nine, verse one. Here's what it says, it says, "In the first year of Darius, son of Xerxes, a Mede by descent, who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel..." Watch this. "I understood from the scriptures that according to the word of the Lord, given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last 70 years."

Now let me pause there because Daniel has actually given us the setting here. This happens after the Belshazzar party, after Babylon falls to the Medes and Persians. That means that Babylon has been taken over. Daniel is old at this point. He's probably in his 80s at this point. He's been in exile for almost 70 years. Now that's important and you're going to see why in a minute. And what is Daniel doing in this time? Daniel is actually having his quiet time. He's actually having his what we would call our daily time in the Lord, daily time in prayer, daily time in scripture. You know what hit me this week that kind of blew me away? Even the writers of scripture studied scripture. Man, I love that. You know why? Because sometimes we feel like I got it. I don't need to do it. I don't need to work through it.

No. Daniel is reading his Bible. It's what we just read. He's actually not just reading his Bible, he's reading the Jeremiah prophecy, what you would call the book of Jeremiah in your Bible is exactly what he's reading. He's in chapter 25 at this point because we know that because that's where the prophecy he's going to talk about comes from. And he reads in Jeremiah where Jeremiah was told by God that God's people would be in exile for 70 years. The desolation of Jerusalem, the abandonment of Jerusalem would only last for 70 years. And Daniel is having this moment. He starts doing the math in his head, he's counting on his fingers, all of his toes. And then he's like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. We were taken captive in 605 BC and it is now like 536 or 538 BC." If my math is right, Daniel has this little epiphany moment like, wait a minute, God, we're almost there. We're almost there.

And God, you tell us that when that moment comes, you're going to deliver us. Now I want you to see something in this because even though there was three different sets of deportations of the people over to Babylon, Daniel in this moment realizes that God has promised him that God will deliver his people. Listen, church, that is a message through the whole Bible, isn't it? But now he's seeing a specific moment that this is going to happen. It's actually kind of cool, but I want you to notice what Daniel doesn't do when he hears this promise. Daniel doesn't hit the pause button right here, and he doesn't kind of sit back in his lawn chair on his front lawn and just take a break. No. Daniel is overwhelmed in this moment by the goodness of God. And here's how Daniel responds to the promise of God.

He doesn't just take a break. He actually hits his knees in prayer, being overwhelmed by the goodness of God. Man, I love this moment in Daniel's life. I love what Daniel does here in this very moment. In fact, watch what he does. He says this in verse three, he says, "So I turned to the Lord and I pleaded with Him in prayer and petition, and in fasting, and in sackcloth and in ashes." You know what I wondered this week, when was the last time a promise of God so overwhelmed me that all I could do is say, "Come, Lord Jesus." When's the last time that I learned something from the word? When's the last time I took something from God's word at such a high value in my life that all I could do in overwhelmness of God is say, "Thank you, God." And write this principle down because this is exactly what Daniel's doing here.

Daniel realizes that God's promises are not an excuse, here it is for your notes, to check out. God's promises are not an excuse to check out, they're actually an invitation for us to cry out. Now what does that mean? That means that God has promised so much over our lives. Our life is not to be just some lazy chair moment of life. It's to be made into this moment where we're living for His kingdom, we're walking for His kingdom, we're praying for His kingdom to come and for God to do what He's always promised to do. So Daniel in this moment, he begins one of the most powerful prayer moments in all of scripture. Now listen, if prayer is a struggle for you, this is for you today. If prayer has always been one of those things like how do I do it? This is for you today.

It's actually a masterclass of how to pray. Let's walk through the prayer and I'll point out some things that you can kind of take for your rest of your week. Look back at verse nine with me. It says this. "So I turned..." Daniel said, "... to the Lord, and I pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting and in sackcloth and in ashes." Now the first thing in Daniel's prayer model right here I want you to notice is I want you to notice his posture. Look at verse three, what does it say? "So I turned to the Lord." The implication there is that Daniel... You can write it in your notes, Daniel gave God his wholehearted attention. It's number one. He gave God his wholehearted attention. What does that mean? That Daniel turned every bit of his attention to God. He turned everything to God.

That means his full attention, his full devotion, his full focus, every bit of it went to God. He even addressed God with a term of endearment and a term of sacrifice saying Lord God. On top of that, look at his intentions here. He dressed in sackcloth to represent where his heart was. He's fasting. He puts ashes on his head showing the humility in mind that he has, showing that his heart is being poured out for his people, for God to deliver them. Now notice what he's not doing. Daniel is not heading to work, driving down the road at 70 miles an hour because he wouldn't get up 20 minutes earlier and having his prayer time. That's not what he's doing. Everything about him is focused on one thing and one thing only, and that is the God of the universe and meeting with him. It means something to Daniel.

Daniel's people are being destroyed. His city of Jerusalem is in ruins. The temple is not functioning. He knows the seriousness of the moment that we as believers can come into the presence of God. He's entering into God's throne room. He's talking to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And he has this devotion about him. Now look, let's have a little family talk for a minute and let me just say this. I love how comfortable we can be in worship. I love how comfortable we can be in prayer, but come on church. It is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and we have to get to a point in our life where it's not about our scrolling, it's not about our texting, it's not about our messing with our friends when all this is happening. We are in front of the king and he needs our attention.

You want powerful prayer in your life? You come before God and you say, "Nothing else is mattering right now other than me and you, God." That's the first step is life. He's realizing this is God that I'm front of. That's number one. But then number two, after he put his attention to God, look at what he did, he actually praises God. He praises God. What does he do? He lifts God up in the goodness of God, the power of God, the grace of God. Look at verse four. Watch what it says. "I pray to the Lord, my God and confess." Watch what he said back to God. "Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps his commandments of love with those who love him and keep His commandments." Now notice what he does here. He's got every bit of his attention on God. He's not answering the messages.

He's not scrolling the TikToks. And now he leans in and begins to speak back to God who God is. Now for some of you, you're like, "Man, why do I need to tell God who God is? "That's kind of confusing. Doesn't God know who God is?" Yes, but he wants to hear it from us. Does that make sense? He wants to hear us speak His attributes back to Him, not even necessarily for his sake is the thing, because God will receive glory. He wants us to speak His attributes back to Him and the things that He has showed us and the things that He has taught us because what God knows is prayer is not just us trying to change God's mind on something. No, prayer in many way changes our hearts to match God's heart. And when we begin to speak back the praises of who God is, it begins to bring our heart into congruence with who God is in our life.

And I can just imagine in my mind, my sanctified imagination, God going, "That's right, boy, that's who I am. Now go live it." He's praising God. He's lifting God up. Are you watching his prayer time? He's put everything else out of his mind. His full attention's on God. The first thing he does is he enters into the throne room. He begins to praise God. And then thirdly, he confesses sin. Number three, he confessed sin. Now remember, it seems like based on Daniel's life, this is a weird place for Daniel to go. Why? We spent six chapters talking about the faithfulness of God and the faithfulness of Daniel. It seems like he's there. It seems like he's arrived. It seems like he's done what God has asked. It seems like he has walked this faithful and obedient life over years and years and years of service, but Daniel comes in with confession.

In other words, Daniel knows there's nobody without sin. There's nobody that is so righteous that they don't need to bring their sin before God. And Daniel teaches us a principle here. I put it in your notes for you and it's this. It's that we don't approach God standing on our performance. We approach God standing on His mercy. Does that make sense to you? No matter how big and puffed up I get, I don't approach God because of who I am. I approach God because of the mercy that He has had on me. Listen, Church, nobody's without sin, not even Daniel. He's actually one of the only prophets in the whole Bible that no deceit was mentioned in Him, but he still confesses before God. Why? Because he knows that revival actually begins in our hearts when we quit making excuses for our sin and we start pleading for the glory of God to move in our lives.

So Daniel looks, he's ready. Man, he is ready. He wants God to deliver his people. He wants God to reestablish his temple. He wants God to rebuild Jerusalem. But listen, listen, he comes in confession first. He knows he has to deal with his sin before anything else happens. I want you to see how Daniel does this because I think this could change radically most of our prayer lives. Man, I want you to see the example here and I want you to notice the we and not the they language. Pronouns matter in a lot of things, all right? It matters in this. Notice Daniel has no self-righteous finger pointing. He's not saying, "If the world would just get their act together and do their stuff, God." No. Daniel, you're about to see it, he carries the burden of his people and he actually even confesses on their behalf.

Look at verse five, such a theological rich verse. Watch what it says. It says, "We have sinned and done wrong." Now that doesn't really say a whole lot to us other than the fact that it's saying, "Yeah, we have done wrong." But that Hebrew word there is chata. It's a word for sin. It actually means, God, we have missed the mark and done wrong. He says this, "We have been wicked and have rebelled. We have been wicked. We've been in perversion. We've twisted your truth. We've acted in wickedness. We have predetermined to do an intentional wrong," is what he says. "We've done wicked and we've rebelled. We have turned away from your commands and laws." In other words, "God, we have lived in open rebellion. We've turned away from exactly what you have called us to do." What Daniel has us here in his Hebrew language is absolute beauty.

He uses every single word. There's four words in the Hebrew language that describe sin. One of them means missing the mark. The second one means twisting the truth. The third one means perversion. And the last one means rebellion. What he does here is says this, "God, in every way that we can think of as a people, we have disobeyed you. We've walked away from you. We've departed from your plan. We haven't come back, God." Now let me ask you something. When's the last time your prayer life looked like that? Or does yours go something like this? "God, I just can't believe I made that mistake. God, I just can't believe I tripped up like that." You see the difference there? The power comes in the confession. The power comes when we're honest before God who actually reached into our lives and saved us anyway when we're at our worst and we say, "God, I've blown it."

What Daniel does here is he literally says, "God, we knew it was wrong. We did it anyway against you, God. And God, we know we've lived our life against you." That's powerful. Man, church, what if our confession time was less about our circumstances and more about the fact that I have just perverted what God has called me to be? You say, "Ooh Matt, that's quite confession. Well, he keeps going. Let me read a couple of verses over you and give you some examples of what he's talking about. Watch this in verse six. He says, "We have not listened to you. We've not listened to your servants and prophets who spoke your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors and to all the people of the land. Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame." Verse 10, look at it. It says, "We have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept His laws He gave us through His servants and the prophets."

Verse 11, "All Israel has transgressed your law and has turned away from you, refusing to obey you. Therefore, the curses and the sworn judgments written on the law of Moses, the servant of God have been poured out on us because we have sinned against you." What is he saying? In other words, he's saying, "God, we know that all this is our fault. We know that you have every right to keep us in, keep us in exile. We know what you said for us to do was clear, but we still didn't do it anyway. We still haven't turned back. Has your prayer life ever been like this specific?" Watch him finish this confession. Verse 15, he says this, "Now, Lord, our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand, who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned and we have done wrong."

Listen, church, I'm telling you that confession is what reconnects our heart to God's hearts. It's confession. It's the secret sauce of prayer, but it's the one area of prayer that we just choose to walk away from instead of leaning into it. What if in our homes, what if in our church, what if in our community we begin to confess on behalf of ourselves and our community instead of throwing stones at both of those? What did Daniel do? He came before the Lord with this radical focus. He praised God for who He is. He confessed on his behalf and on behalf of the people. And then and only then... Here's number four in prayer, then and only then did he present his requests. Now listen, I'm fully aware that I probably don't even need to teach anything on this one. Here's why. This is like 99.6% of our prayer lives.

I get it. But I want you to listen to his request because it's still all about God. It's all about God's glory. It's not Daniel's glory. It's not Daniel's self-fame. It's not advancement of Daniel. It's all about Daniel's desire to see God's name be proclaimed and God's temple be re-established. Look at verse 17. Watch what it says. Some of the most powerful verses in the whole book. Watch this. Verse 17 says, "Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant for your sake and look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear our God and hear. Open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name." What is he doing? He's praying for God's city. He's praying for God's name. He's praying for God's temple. Watch this. This is strong. "We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy." Oh man, look at this verse 19.

"Lord, listen, Lord, forgive. Lord, hear and Lord, act." Listen, if I was going to get a tattoo this week, I might get that right across my back. That's strong. Watch what he says, "For your sake, my God, do not delay because your city and your people bear your name." Now look, there's not a whole lot I can do to expound on what God just said right there. There's just not, on what he's showing us right there. He's just showing us Daniel's heart for God to shine. Daniel's heart for God to move. Daniel's heart for God to receive the glory above everything else and for his name to be proclaimed. Are you seeing God's prayer? God is receiving this from Daniel. He's hearing this from Daniel. Daniel's heart is in the right place. His confession has been made. His praise has been lifted up. Then I want you to write down this.

This is number five in prayer and this is the one we forget over and over and over again. Daniel listens. He listens. You say, "Matt, what do you mean by listens?" Listen, let me tell you this. This is important. You need to hear from God. You need to hear from God. And prayer... Listen, prayer is not just you speaking to God. You need to let God speak. You need to let God press into you. You need to let God in the moment. After you have done these first four things, you just need to pause wherever you are, however it works for you and say, "God, lead me. God, bring back your scripture to mind. Bring back teachings that I got in life group and in a message. Bring back a podcast. Bring back a message that I need today, God. God, recall scripture, God. Give me insight."

Prayer should never end with you speaking. It should always end in a posture of, "God, what do you have for me?" Now listen, that's the prayer. This has been Daniel's MO for almost 70 years now. This was his rhythm. Pray, pray, pray, hear from God, hear from God, hear from God, and then move on His behalf. But this day in this prayer, what made this specific enough for him to put it in his prayer journal is that things changed rapidly. Rapidly. You know why? Because check this out. As Daniel was praying, as he was lifting up God's name, God, and I don't know how he did it. I don't know if he put an intercom in heaven. I don't know if he tapped somebody on the shoulder to go tell him. I don't know how this worked. God tapped the angel Gabriel, the messenger angel on the shoulder.

And he's like, "Hey, my boy Daniel's praying. My boy Daniel's asking. I need you to take this message to him." And so God sent Gabriel flying to earth. Now watch this. Oh, it's so cool. I love this. Look at Daniel, verse 20, he says, "While I was speaking and praying and confessing sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God and His holy hill, while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I'd seen in the earlier vision..." If you were here last week, he helped them interpret that vision in chapter eight. Evidently they're friends now.

"The man I'd seen in the earlier vision came to me in swift flight." Boy, I love that. And it's about the time of the evening sacrifice. In other words, Daniel's remembering even back when he was a teenage year, what the aroma being lifted to God from the temple was. This was almost 70 years later. Verse 22, "He instructed me and he said to me, 'Daniel, I've now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision.'" I want you to write two things down for me. Number one, write this principle down. God hears prayers immediately. You do realize that. There's no holding tank in heaven for God to get to your prayers maybe someday. It's not how it works. The moment you utter a prayer to God, God hears it.

Look at Daniel, he doesn't even get done praying and Gabriel comes back with the message and evidently old Gabe is coming in hot. He's swift. I love it. There's no doubt that angels fly. I got so many questions here though, I got so many questions like, how far is heaven? How long did it take? Was it the speed of light? Is there a portal that they come through that makes it shorter for them? I don't know. But what I do know is God heard and God responds and He does it for every single one of His children. He responds. I also want you to write this down too. Not only does God hear your prayers, God answers prayers. He answers prayers. Sometimes He answers them like He does right there before they even get out of our mouth.

But sometimes, you can read ahead if you want to for next week. Sometimes it takes a little while. Actually, next week Daniel prays again, prays and fast for 21 days and still doesn't get his answer for 21 days. So listen, when it seems like your prayers are hitting the ceiling, you got to know that God is hearing it. You got to know that God is answering it. You got to know that God wants to be involved and Daniel would just say, "Keep praying. Keep praying. Keep following the model. Keep praising. Keep confessing. Keep making God the biggest thing in your life. Keep coming before His throne and asking His glory to move in your life and God will answer."

Now, here's what happens next, because Gabriel has come not just to have a cool moment in the Bible, he's come to share the answer. And what's coming up in the next text is that God is basically in a nutshell going to say, "I am going to do what I said I'm going to do. I'm going to deliver the Jews. I'm going to come in and establish my reign forever and ever and ever and amen. And I'm going to do it, Daniel, in a way that is going to blow your mind and everyone else's mind." Now, everything in me all week long has said, "Matt, just stop right there and celebrate God's goodness." Because the next text is actually prophetically where it gets a little bit tough. All right, actually, let me just say this, it's hard. So much context, so much culture, so much language. It makes it tough. But hey, listen, listen, listen, your pastor ain't no quitter. We're about to do it. All right, we're about to do it.

But I'm going to need you to dial in. Students, I'm just going to need you to be quiet for like three seconds on this one, because what God does next is God says, "I'm not only going to just reestablish this little temple. I'm going to send my Messiah. I'm going to give you a reign to reach the world and I'm going to return forever and ever and ever, amen, Daniel, and put a little explanation mark on it." But how He does it is a little bit wonky. All right, so here's the answer from God. Warning, if you got to go to the bathroom and you come back, you're going to be lost. All right, here we go. Verse 24, here's what it says. Here's what it says. You people are going to love this. Here's what the angel says, he says, "70 sevens..." In other words, that's 70 sets of seven years.

All right, get that in your mind. That's hard. That's Hebrew. I don't know why they did it like that. It's just what they do. I'm just the mailman delivering the message. That's all I got. He says, "490 years are decreed for your people and your holy city." In other words, "Hey, here it is Daniel. I'm going to deliver the Jews. I'm going to reestablish the temple. I'm going to reign forever, 490 years." 70 sevens, all right. What's God going to do specifically? Watch what he's going to do to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, atone for wickedness, to bring an everlasting righteousness, to seal a vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. So in other words, God says, "Oh yeah, you better believe it, Daniel. I'm going to do it and I'm going to blow your mind when I do it." And God promises that in 77s and 490 years that God is going to establish his presence with the Jews.

He's going to establish his temple. He's going to reign forever and ever and ever. Amen. He's going to do those six things on the backside of verse 24. What is He going to do? Finish transgression, put an end to sin, reconcile all iniquity. He's going to bring everlasting righteousness. He's going to seal up all the visions and He's going to anoint the temple, the most holy place, His temple. Now when you think about that... All right, stay with me, got to put your big girl and big boy pants on here. When you think through this, you'll say, "Well, Matt, is God saying to Daniel that in 490 years from this very Babylon moment that he is going to 100% do all these things? Because if that's what God is saying, it really kind of seems like the God has missed the mark here."

Why is that? Well, because sin is still in the earth. Rebellion still exists. The Jews haven't turned to God. All prophecy hasn't been fulfilled. And the last time I was in Jerusalem, there is no temple that has been on the mound. It's not there anymore. Now, as confusing as that seems to you, it was confusing to Daniel. Here's how I know that. Because in the next couple of verses, God actually clarifies to Daniel and us what the specific timeline is going to look like. In these next verses, oh, you got to catch this. In the next verse, what's going to happen is his God is going to tell us when the 490-year time clock starts, when the time clock is going to pause and when the time clock is going to be fulfilled in the future. Now remember the audience is the Jews. Keep watching though because he's going to zero in on the timeline and this has the potential to absolutely blow your mind.

Watch this in verse 25. Watch this. He says, "No one understand this from the time that the word goes out..." In other words, he's telling us when the time clock starts right here. No one understands this. From the time that the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, that's when you hit the stopwatch to start. "Until the anointed one..." Who is that? Jesus. Great. There's three of you that are with me. All right, so in other words, from the time this starts until this very moment, when Jesus, the anointed one, the ruler comes... Watch what he says here just to make us a little bit confused, "... there will be seven sevens plus 62 sevens." Now for non-math people, what you're seeing there is you're seeing that that is seven plus 62 equals 69. Say amen with me? 69. There it is. Keep going though.

"There will be seven sevens and 62 sevens when Jerusalem it will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in the times of trouble. After the 62 sevens, the anointed one will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come and destroy the city and the sanctuary, the end will come like a flood and war will continue until the end and the desolations have been decreed." If you're confused, raise your hand. All right, that's me too. Let's see what we can do this. Here's what's happening. For you math people, you're looking at this and you're like, wait a minute. In verse 24, you told me that there's supposed to be 70 sevens, but when you add seven sevens plus 62 sevens that we just read, we are missing one set of sevens. In other words, there's a seven years that are not in this verse.

And if you're a math person, that's killing you. We're going to get to that, but I want you to see something first because this is so good. This is so, so good. Now we just read, because what we just read was Daniel praying that God would reestablish Himself. That's what we just read. And what God is answering him with is, "Oh yeah, Daniel, I'm going to reestablish myself, but I'm going to do it in a way that you don't even have a clue how powerful it's going to be." He looks back at Daniel and actually what God does in Daniel's life is God lays out a timeline from the moment that the clock starts to the moment that Jesus Christ Himself will come to Jerusalem the first time. First time. How long is that going to take from the moment the proclamation goes out? 69 sets of sevens, it's going to take 483 years.

Here's the cool part about that. We know exactly when the proclamation went out to rebuild Jerusalem. You say, "Okay, Matt, I'll bite. How do we know that?" Nehemiah chapter two tells us exactly when Nehemiah was told by the king, go back and rebuild your city. That is the very exact day that God said the time clock has started. The first set of sevens, the 49 years on the screen there is exactly how long it took Nehemiah to rebuild the city in times of turmoil. Remember saying about Tobias, all of the difficulties that's going around. The second set is from the moment that Jerusalem was finished, the other 62 sevens is from the moment Jerusalem was finished until the day something happens. Listen to this, that 483 years combined, or if you want to do the math, 173,880 days later, that's how long it is.

Do you know what happened on this earth? Do you know what God did? Do you know how God showed up and showed out? You're like, "No, Matt. Tell me what happens." That very single day, 173,880 days from the time Nehemiah was sent to rebuild the city, none other than Jesus Christ himself in 32 AD in April 4th came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey on a day that we call Palm Sunday. What happened? The anointed one rode in. Are you seeing what God's doing here? God has shaped all of eternity into saying, "My savior is coming. He's coming. He's going to be there." And in that day, Jesus more clearly than any other time in His life proclaimed himself as the anointed one. Remember right before that, He looks at His disciples and He's weeping over Jerusalem going, 'Oh, how I wish to gather you."

Remember that very day He looks at his disciples and He's like, "You should know what is going to happen." You know why He said that? Because Daniel had already told them when it was going to happen. That day, verse 26 is pointing to the day that Jesus dies. So the 69th set of seven is when Jesus himself, the first time He came, was ushered into the earth. You want to talk about precision? This is why the skeptics of the book of Daniel hate Daniel. This is why the skeptics say there's no way this could be right. There's no way this can be true. Somebody wrote this later on because it is to the day the prophecy has been fulfilled. That's timing, that's precision, and only our God can do that. But I know the tension. "Matt, what about the last seven? We're supposed to be at 70 sevens."

Man, I'm glad you're still with me. Where is it? Here's where it is. A lot of times in prophecy, what God will do is He will have a near filling of the prophecy and a future feeling. A lot of times He will give us a one, two punch and there's a pause in the middle. You say, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about in that." Remember the Christmas verse unto us a child is born, a savior has been given. Remember that one? We celebrate that with the first coming of Jesus. Remember the backside of that verse in Isaiah says, "And the government will be on His shoulders." Let me ask you something. Is the government on Jesus' shoulders right now? No. But will it be one day? Oh yeah, it will be. The same is true for this prophecy. There's a specific pause in the 69th year of this prophecy where God, and thank God He does it, God hits the pause button.

He hits the pause button and thank God He did. Why? Because here's what God does. This is a Jewish prophecy for the Jewish people. We'll be back to that in just a minute. What God does in the prophecy though is He actually begins from the time that Jesus walks on this earth, He begins what's known as the church age, the age of grace, the age of where we're living today or the age of the Gentiles. You say, "Well, Matt, why does he do that?" He does that because the Jews rejected Jesus so wrongfully. God reaches down into humanity and He's like, "I'm going to deliver the Jews and I'm going to deliver the Gentiles." So for the last 2,000 years, we've been living in the pause of week 69 leading into week 70. And thank God we have because that's where we've come to Christ.

That pause is where God's heart has been shown to the Gentiles, to us. And that pause will happen until the very day that Jesus raptures His church home. He brings His people home. And then here's the deal, church. Click the time clock of Daniel's prophecy starts again. And according to the Bible, what does God do? God sets His attention back to the Jews. Have you ever realized that? It's at that moment during the tribulation that most Jews will finally realize that Jesus is king. But listen to this. Watch the last verse, but the antichrist is going to hate it. He comes up every week in Daniel. I think Daniel has a thing for the antichrist, watch this in verse 27. He says, "He will confirm a covenant with many..." For how long? "For one seven." So for those of you that are stuck on the 69 sevens, there's your last seven to make 70 sevens.

Ooh, I love it. I love math. Not really. There it is, but watch this. "In the middle of the seven, he will put an end to the sacrifice and offering. At the temple, He will set up an abomination that causes desolation." And then what's going to happen? "Until the end, until the end of the 70th that a decree is going to be poured out on Him." Do you see this? At the very beginning, there's a decree to God's people and in the very end there's a decree to the antichrist. The decree to God's people is that I win, I rule, I'll deliver you. I'll redeem you. I'll set up my kingdom. I will let you reign with me forever. The decree to the antichrist is go away into the abyss. Listen, church, God has set the timeline. He set the timeline from the beginning of the world to the end of the world.

God has set in motion every single thing. And Jesus, His first go around fulfilled the 69th seven and His second go around will fulfill the 70th seven. But I can hear you. I can hear you, "Matt, I'm not a Jew and you tell me since I am a believer in Christ, I'm not going to be here. Why do we even have to look at this? What does it even matter to me?" Let me give you the last principle and we're done, I promise. Here it is. Here's the last principle. Don't waste the pause. Does that make sense? Don't waste the grace. Don't waste the fact that the only reason God hit the pause button was to invite you and invite me into a relationship with Him. What does that mean? That means that God has opened up the door for you to trust Him and me to trust Him.

That God has opened up the door for your family to trust Him, for your kids to trust Him. Don't miss the pause. So pray like Daniel prayed. If you got confused in all the sevens, don't worry about it. Go back to the prayer stuff. Live how Daniel has lived in full faithfulness and share God's word how Daniel has shared it. God didn't hit the pause button just to make it difficult. He hit the pause button to show His grace, to show His mercy, to show His love and to give us a chance to say, "I'm yours."

 

Follow Along with the Message

Praying in the Pause 

September 20, 2026

DANIEL PRAYER EQUATION: God’s promises + desperate prayer = Heaven .

Daniel 9:1–2
1 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom — 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
Daniel 9:3
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

PRINCIPLE: God’s promises are not an excuse to check out; they are an invitation to .

Daniel 9:3
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
Daniel’s Prayer Model

1. Gave His attention.

2. God.

Daniel 9:4
I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

3. sins.

PRINCIPLE: We don’t approach God standing on our performance; we approach God standing on His .

Daniel 9:5
We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.
Daniel 9:6–7, 10–11
6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. 7 Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame … 10 we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.
Daniel 9:15
Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong.

4. Presented .

Daniel 9:17–19
17 “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

5. .

Daniel 9:20–23
20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill — 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He instructed me and said to me, Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. 23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision.

PRINCIPLE: God hears prayers .

PRINCIPLE: God prayers.

Daniel 9:24
“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
Daniel 9:25–26
25 Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
Daniel 9:27
He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

PRINCIPLE: Don’t the pause.

Daniel 9:24
“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.”
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