There’s been a lot of talk lately about the apocalypse — about Armageddon, the end of days, the final battles and plagues foretold in the Book of Revelation. Many believers are bracing themselves for what’s coming: the bowls of wrath, the trumpet judgments, and the dark headlines that seem to echo prophecy more loudly every year.
But what if we’ve missed something even more personal — something far more immediate?
Because before the great and final apocalypse of the world, there is often another kind — the apocalypse of one.
Your own end times
When we speak of “the end times,” we tend to picture global chaos, famine, persecution, and the mark of the beast. But for each of us individually, the end of time comes the moment our heart stops beating.
If you die of cancer, do you really need to fear the coming plagues?
If your life ends in a car crash, will you still be concerned about the fall of Babylon?
If your lungs fail before the Antichrist rises, will the collapse of the power grid matter?
The truth is, every one of us lives on borrowed time — and the countdown isn’t cosmic, it’s personal. Each day brings us one breath closer to our final one. The end of the age may come for the world someday, but the end of our age could come tonight.
We are all living in our own ticking timeline, and every heartbeat is one beat closer to eternity.
Theories about who survives the final days
There are some scholars who believe that in the last days, God will preserve a remnant of a remnant — what some call the “un-killables.” They point to the Book of Joel, where an end-time army marches in perfect unity, climbs walls, runs like mighty men, and cannot be stopped.
Others focus on the long-debated doctrine of the rapture— the catching away of God’s people. Whether someone believes in a pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation rapture, or even in a lifting up just before Christ descends on a white horse to fight the final Battle of Armageddon, the theme is the same: a dramatic divine rescue.
Some believe believers will be lifted up moments before Christ charges from Heaven to Earth on His white horse, gathering the saints for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb — before returning as a heavenly cavalry behind Him.
Others believe that the “escape from death” in these last days will only apply to a preserved remnant who will enter alive into the 1,000-year Millennial Reign of Christ from Jerusalem.
But regardless of the timeline, the method, or the miraculous possibilities … every believer must still prepare for the Apocalypse of One.
Because even if some are spared physical death, the vast majority of us are still subject to the reality Scripture declares clearly: “It is appointed unto man once to die…”
Whether rapture of the spirit or rupture of the heart…
Whether by translation into glory or transition through death…
Whether lifted up before Christ returns or laid down before our head hits the pillow … Are we prepared?
Apocalypse means revelation
The word apocalypse doesn’t mean destruction — it means revelation. The Apokalypsis of John was not just about catastrophe but about unveiling what is hidden.
And when our own “apocalypse” comes — through sickness, loss, tragedy, or simply the end of our days — it reveals what we truly believe. Do we trust God only in the abstract, or do we walk with Him daily in the fire of our own trials?
Every personal apocalypse is a moment of unveiling: it shows whether Christ is truly our anchor or merely our comfort slogan.
Revival before ruin
That’s why revival cannot wait until tomorrow. Revival must be now.
Let there be a revival of one — but also a revival of all. Let it begin in individual hearts and spread through church bodies that turn away from the things that are not of God and return to the things that are.
It’s time for holiness, not as a slogan, but as a lifestyle. To die daily, as Paul said, and in dying, to truly live.
The abundant life of Christ doesn’t come from avoiding suffering, but from surrendering through it. When we “die daily,” the apocalypse loses its sting, because we’ve already died to the world.
And in these last days, there will also be divine healing in far greater measure, because Scripture says, “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.”
1,000 years or 10 — it’s still a breath
This earthly life — whether we live 10 years or a thousand — is not even a speck of dust compared to eternity. God is beyond time. He dwells in the eternal now.
He is the Great I AM.
Take solace in His perfect peace.
And as Jesus said, “Work while it is still day, for night comes when no man can work.”
Do good now.
Love now.
Repent now.
Obey now.
Serve now.
Live now.
For when the Apocalypse of One meets the Revival of One, the fear of death is swallowed up in the victory of Christ.
And the moment the believer closes his eyes on earth, he opens them in glory — wrapped not in darkness, but in everlasting light.
Jerry McGlothlin serves as the CEO of Special Guests, a publicity agency known for representing guests who are dedicated to helping preserve and advance our Constitutional Republic, and maintaining a Judeo-Christian ethic.
