 We know that neither Enoch nor Elijah died. Did they go to heaven? If not, where did they go? Hey, smart Christians. One of the things that kind of intrigues people, and I may have something to do with it, especially after I finish making this statement, you'll probably see why, is where did Enoch or Elijah go if they did not go to heaven or did they in fact go to heaven? Well, when we look at the scriptures, let's go to Genesis chapter five, which speaks about Enoch. And let's see if we can kind of get an understanding and see what the scriptures say and what the scriptures don't say. In Genesis 5, 21, it says, when Enoch lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God, and after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Now, this term walk with God does should not be taken as he now goes to live with God or to reside with God. The reason why I say so is because Enoch is not the only person that the Bible says walk with God. Noah, in Genesis chapter six, verse nine, is told that he also walked with God. The Bible says in verse nine, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. Well, we know then because of that, that walking with God does not mean that he stops living on earth and is now walking with God in heaven because the Bible also tells us that Noah died and was buried. So going back to Genesis five, let's finish the passage and see if we get some more from it. It says thus, verse 23, all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him. So that in and of itself doesn't tell us that he went to heaven or where he went to says that God took him. He was no longer around. He was not according to the passage and God took him. Now, I'm gonna make the case that Enoch did not go to heaven where the other saints after now when they die, those who are in Christ, they go to be with the Father immediately. But I don't think that's where Enoch went. I'll get to there in a second, but let's turn our attention now to Elijah. The Bible says in 2 Kings, chapter two, and here we have Elijah and Elijah together, verse 11. And as they still went on and talk, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Now, the issue is, is that stating that he went to heaven with God? Because it seems to indicate that as a matter of fact, there would be no reason to doubt that he went to heaven just by reading this passage. However, we're gonna come to a passage, we're gonna kind of put some water on this issue. But let's look at what maybe we can glean that there might be some possibilities from this passage, go back to it. He says that Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind into heaven. If we go over here to the other side, we'll see this term ha-shama'im. Now, it's the plural, so it can be taken as he was taken up into the heavens. And if this be taken as the plurals, then that means that he was taken up into the sky, because also the sky that we live in, this atmosphere that we live in is also called the heavens. So it could indicate, and I'm gonna make the case that that's what he's speaking of, it could indicate that he's speaking of that he was just taken up into the sky. Now, of course, you're gonna have to earn that statement to say that Elijah and Enoch, neither of them, we know they didn't die, but neither of them went to heaven. As a matter of fact, in Hebrews 11.5, the Bible speaks even more about Enoch. It says that in verse five, by faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death. Well, we understand that already, and he was not found because God had taken him now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God. Now, I wanna look at a particular word here that might kind of help a little bit in your understanding on this. The word that's used here, not this word for not found because he was taken, this word for taken, this word metathacon, this word simply means to remove or to change or to take it either way, but let's just go with the word removed. So he was removed from where? From earth, from amongst the land of the living, so to speak. Well, Corey, you still haven't explained why you think that they were not taken to heaven. I would agree that both of them went to heaven. However, there's a passage that leads to me looking at other passage. This passage was initiated by something that Jesus said in John chapter three, and this is why I don't think that either of them were taken in heaven. Why? Because Jesus literally said none of them were taken in heaven. He says in chapter three, verse 13, when he's speaking in Nicodemus, he says, no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. No one, there's no person who has ascended into heaven. I think that would include Elijah as well as Enoch. Where do they go? Well, I want you to think about something for a second. If you notice before Jesus' death, burial and resurrection and his subsequent ascension, we had people who had died, but would still show up. We've seen Samuel brought up by Saul. We've seen Moses brought up and Elijah brought up at Jesus' transfiguration. However, we don't see any of that taking place after Jesus' resurrection and ascension, which brings us to two passages, and this is why Jesus is given this term in Colossians chapter one, verse 18, it says, and he is the head of the body. That's Jesus, the church. He is the beginning. And look what it says. He's the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. And then if we go over to this passage here in 1 Corinthians 15, he says that, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits among those who have fallen asleep. No one would make their way to heaven to the Father prior to Jesus going. Now, we don't know what happened when Jesus died and was in the grave for three days, what exactly he did, but I do believe what the Bible said when it said that he led a host of captives on high. So I think that what happened was everyone who had died or who ceased to exist, including Elijah and Enoch, though they didn't taste death the way that other people have, they were just simply, I guess, translated or changed or removed from here to this abode of the dead. And then at Jesus's ascension, he takes all of the dead saints, including Elijah and Enoch with him into heaven, which is also, I think, a reason why we don't see any dead believers, any dead saints show up after the ascension. We don't see Elijah. We don't see Moses. We don't see Samuel being brought up. We don't see anyone again after his ascension, which is why he's called the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep. He's the first of those who had died to also then ascend. He wasn't the first one to be resurrected from the dead. Other people have been raised from the dead before. Think about Lazarus and other people that he's raised, but no one was raised and ascended to heaven until Jesus did so, until after he did so, or because of Jesus doing so, which is why Jesus makes a statement that no one has ascended into heaven except those, except he who had decided which is the Son of Man. Now, is this of any real theological importance? Well, yes, that no one proceeds to the Father without Jesus. In other words, remember, he's our mediator. He's the mediator between God and man and man and God. And so this reconciliation has to take place. It's Jesus that does so and think about it. It's literally him actually bringing us himself to the Father, at least he did it with the old saints, the Old Testament saints and then those who were dead at that moment that he ascended. And so there is a theological reason behind that as well.