Prayer Watch and Biblical Events

The First Watch is from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

• Jesus used the evening watch to go aside and pray. (Matt. 14:15-23)

• In the early church, this watch at sundown was a time of corporate prayer, Psalms were

sung, thanksgiving offered, prayers said and blessings pronounced.

The Second Watch is from 9:00 p.m. to midnight.

• Exodus 12:29-31, it was at the midnight hour that God struck down the first-born of Egypt, which resulted in His people being released from captivity and set free to worship Him.

The Third Watch is from midnight to 3:00 a.m.

• By midnight Peter had denied Christ three times. (Matthew 26:34).

• Paul and Silas were released from prison during this time (Acts 16:25).

• At midnight Samson ripped up the gates of Gaza and escaped carrying the gates with him. (Judges 16:3-4).

The Fourth Watch is the morning watch from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.

• Jacob wrestled with God and met Him face to face just before entering into his destiny as Israel. (Genesis 32:22-31)

• During this time, the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12, 14)

• Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea Exodus 14:25-26

• Gideon defeated the Midianites (middle watch), Judges 7:19-24

• This is also the time Jesus walked on the water to help the disciples who were caught in the storm (Matthew 14:25-33).

• Peter and Jesus walk on water (Matthew 14:25-26).

• Jesus’s trial before Annas and Caiaphas. (Matthew 26:57-68).

• The angels appear to the shepherds in the field to announce the birth of the saviour. (Luke 2:8-14)

• Jesus is resurrected from the dead, (Matthew 28:1)

The Fifth Watch is from 6:00 a.m to 9:00 a.m.

• Jesus’s trial before Pontius Pilate and Herod where he is sentenced to be crucified.

• Jesus carries his cross, with Simon of Cyrene’s help, to Golgotha. (Matthew 27:27-32)

• Jesus was crucified. Mark 11:25.

• 6 am is also the hour Jesus rose from the dead on the third day.

• At 9:00 a.m. the Holy Spirit descended in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost to equip the 120 disciples for service. (Acts 2:15)

The Sixth Watch is from 9:00 a.m. to noon.

• The soldiers divided Jesus’s clothing. He prays for them. (Matthew 27:35)

• The soldiers mock Jesus: “He can’t save himself. Come down from there, Son of God.” (Matthew 27:36–43)

• Jesus speaks from the cross to the thieves on either side. The repentant thief asks Jesus to remember him, and Jesus promises, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

• And to his mother, Mary, and John, Jesus says, “Woman, here is your son. . . . John, here is your mother.’”(Matthew 27:38–44)

The Seventh Watch is from noon to 3:00 p.m.

• A three-hour darkness descends upon the land: (Matthew 27:45)

• At 3 pm the earth quaked, the temple curtain is torn, and Jesus thirsts. (Matthew 27:51–54)

• Jesus dies: “At the ninth hour, (3 pm) Jesus cried out, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’” “Jesus said, ‘It is finished,’ and he gave up his spirit.” (Matthew 27:46)

• Peter received the vision of the clean and unclean animals which initiated the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s redemptive plan.

• It was during this watch that Daniel always went home to pray.

The Eighth Watch is from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

• It was 3 p.m. when Peter and John performed the first healing after Pentecost. (Acts 3:1-10).

• It was 3 p.m. when the angel appeared to Cornelius and said, "Your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God" (Acts 10:31).

• Elijah called forth fire from Heaven to consume the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:29-39).