DAILY TEXT, for Saturday, July 23. 2016

[Queen Esther]

Every kingdom divided against itself comes to ruin.—Matt. 12:25.

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/dt/r1/lp-e/2016/7/23

One of the darkest periods in human history nears. The prophet Joel describes it as “a day of darkness and gloom.” (Joel 2:1, 2; Zeph. 1:14) For God’s people, it will be a time for unity. During the coming time of trouble for this system, we will have to be truly united. The spiritual unity that we will need to have among ourselves could be compared to the physical proximity of houses in ancient Jerusalem. Those dwellings were built so close together that the psalmist described Jerusalem as “a city that is joined together as one.” That enabled the inhabitants to help and protect one another. Moreover, their physical closeness could well represent the spiritual unity of the whole nation when all “the tribes of Jah” assembled for worship. (Ps. 122:3, 4) Today and in the critical days to come, we likewise need to remain “joined together as one.” w14 12/15 3:10, 11