For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. (Matthew 24:21)
Pictures of a burning town hall, looted shops and lines of riot police have filled screens since Saturday. Whenever the news looks like this, the same question arrives in church WhatsApp groups within hours: is this it? Is this the great tribulation Jesus spoke of?
It is a fair question, and Jesus gave a fuller answer than a single verse. First, the facts as reported so far. Then the passage, read in full.
What happened
On Saturday 17 October, nationwide protests over the cost of living turned into the worst rioting France has seen in years. Authorities put the turnout at about 550,000 people; organisers claimed around 800,000. The marches drew students, teachers, unions, farmers and veterans of the 2018 "yellow vest" movement, angry about fuel prices, frozen benefits and the state of schools after weeks of student protests that began in late September.
By Sunday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said more than 1,800 people had been arrested. In Limoges, the nineteenth-century town hall was set alight and, in the words of the local prefect, largely lost. In Lyon, a tourist office was burned. France 24 reported some 1,500 businesses damaged, with losses running to hundreds of millions of euros. President Macron, in the final months of his term, promised to hold accountable those who "sought to bring down the Republic."
France was not alone that weekend:
- Italy: police in Milan used water cannon and tear gas and detained around 50 demonstrators; masked youths clashed with officers in Bologna. The CGIL union has called a general strike for 20 November, the day of a planned Europe-wide student strike.
- Albania: protests in Tirana entered a sixth straight day, with students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
- Belgium: hundreds of young people protesting education costs in Brussels overturned a car and were met with tear gas and water cannon.
- Portugal and Spain: tens of thousands marched over housing and living costs, largely peacefully.
Figures differ between outlets and will be revised. But the shape is clear: a continent where many people, especially the young, feel that ordinary life has become unaffordable, and where anger is spilling onto the streets.
What Jesus actually said
Matthew 24 opens with the disciples asking Jesus two things: when will the temple be destroyed, and what will be the sign of his coming (verse 3). His answer runs through the whole chapter, and verse 21 sits in the middle of it. Three parts of that answer matter for a weekend like this one.
He expected us to see trouble, and told us not to panic. "You will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation... All these are but the beginning of the birth pains" (verses 6 to 8). Riots in Paris and Milan fit exactly the kind of thing Jesus said his people would live through in every generation. He did not say such events were the end. He said they were not.
The "great tribulation" of verse 21 is tied to a specific sign. Verse 15 points to "the abomination of desolation... standing in the holy place," and verse 16 tells those in Judea to flee to the mountains. Many Bible teachers, from the early church onward, see verses 15 to 22 fulfilled in the Roman siege of Jerusalem in AD 70, within the lifetime of the people Jesus was speaking to (verse 34). Others read it as a future, final tribulation before Christ's return. Serious Christians hold both views. But on either reading, a cost-of-living riot in France is not what verse 21 describes. Jesus located that tribulation in Judea and tied it to the temple, not to inflation in Europe.
He warned that times like these breed deception. "Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray" (verse 11), and "if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it" (verse 23). Every crisis produces confident voices announcing dates and decoding headlines. Jesus said plainly that "concerning that day and hour no one knows" (verse 36). Christians who announce that this is the tribulation, or that the end is weeks away, are claiming a knowledge Jesus said he was not giving.
The verse that does fit
There is a line in the same chapter that describes this weekend uncomfortably well. "Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold" (verse 12). Looted shops, a town hall burned by what the prefect called "a wild horde," police injured in the hundreds: that is lawlessness, and lawlessness has a chilling effect. It makes neighbours suspicious of neighbours and turns the poor against the poor.
Jesus follows that warning with a promise: "But the one who endures to the end will be saved" (verse 13). The response he asks for is not a timetable. It is endurance, and warm love in a cold season.
How to live in days like these
Watch, but do not be alarmed. Jesus commands both. Stay informed, pray over the news, and refuse the fear that the news trades in. "When these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:28).
Pray for those in authority and those on the streets. Paul asked for prayers "for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life" (1 Timothy 2:2). Pray for Macron and the mayors sweeping glass this morning, for the police, and for the students and families whose budgets really do not stretch to the end of the month.
Have nothing to do with the violence. Grievance can be real and the method still wrong. "Repay no one evil for evil... If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all" (Romans 12:17-18). A Christian may march; a Christian may not loot.
Be the warm love that is growing cold. Behind the headlines are people who cannot pay rent. The church in France, Italy and Belgium has a chance this month to feed, house and listen. Jesus said that is how his sheep are recognised (Matthew 25:35-40).
Keep your hope where it cannot burn. Town halls can be rebuilt and governments replaced. "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19). Whatever Europe's autumn holds, the one who said "I have overcome the world" (John 16:33) has not changed his mind.
Is this the great tribulation? Read in context, no. Is it a reason to pray, to serve and to lift up our heads? Jesus says yes.
Sources for the reporting above: AP via CBS News, France 24, The Washington Post, CNN, Al Jazeera, To Vima and Newsweek. Figures are as reported on 18 and 19 October and may be revised. Bible quotations are from the ESV.