Nearly all Christians have been taught in Sunday school, church, Bible study, etc. that two human beings were taken to heaven by God without first experiencing death, namely, Enoch and Elijah. We have always just accepted this at face value and we haven’t thought of challenging it. But after years of studying Scripture, this idea of human beings going to heaven, body and soul, without first experiencing death seems inconsistent with Scripture. We feel that a closer examination of this issue should be made and this is the focus of the present article.
There are no contradictions in Scripture. Since God is the author of sacred Scripture, and he is perfectly infallible, then Scripture is inerrant in its original manuscript and there can never be contradictions in Scripture. Furthermore, when we read a particular text in the Bible that may not be as clear to us as we would like it, then we should interpret this less clear text by other portions of Scripture that have more clarity. Moreover, holy Scripture should be interpreted in light of the rest of holy Scripture.
PERTINENT FACTS
- All Human Beings Must Die – Death is not a natural event for human beings. The separation of the body and soul at death for humans is not a natural thing and may explain why people fear death. Furthermore, all death is the result of sin. God warned Adam and Eve in the garden that if they trespassed against Him, they shall surely die (Gen. 2:17; see also Gen. 3:19). The Bible teaches that ALL human beings shall die (Acts 2:29-34; Heb. 9:27). Even our Lord Jesus Christ died a human death (Matt. 27:50; Rom. 6:10; John 19:18; Mark 15:39; 2 Cor. 5:15; Acts 2:23; 5:30; Rom. 14:9; 1 Cor. 15:3).
- All Human Beings Must Die Only Once – The Bible also expressly states that All human beings die only once (Heb. 9:27).
- When Human Beings Die, Their Body and Spirit Separate – Scripture makes it clear that when a believer dies the human body returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7; see also Ps. 146:4; 2 Cor. 5:8; Gen. 3:10). The spirits of unbelievers go to Hades[1] and await the general resurrection and judgment (John 5:28, 29; Ps. 9:17).[2]
- The Only Resurrected Body Now in Heaven is Jesus – (Acts 1:6-11; 2:29-34; Mark 16:19-20; Luke 24:36-53; 1 Tim. 3:16). Jesus is the only resurrected human being in heaven. The rest of the elect believers, living and dead, including Enoch and Elijah will be resurrected, in the general resurrection at the second coming of Christ.
- Taken/Taken Away/Went UP – In the Bible, when by the providence of God a person is taken or taken away or taken up or went up, it means that that person has died. We see the word “taken” used in Isaiah 57:1, 2 “1The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity [emphasis added]; 2he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness.” This verse is speaking of the providence of God removing the righteous from the calamitous world and the righteous who die enter into God’s peace and rest. These parallel phrases refer to death of the righteous and “taken away” is used synonymously for the word “death.” In Scripture, when a person such as Enoch or Elijah or other righteous persons are taken or taken away, it always refers to the death of that person.
- Was Not/Are No More – The phrase was not/are no more in various forms is commonly used in the Bible to indicate that a person is dead. Joseph’s brothers who thought Joseph was dead appeared before Joseph in Egypt but did not recognize him and responded to his question in this way: “And they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more” (Gen. 42:13, emphasis added). They indicated to Joseph that they were twelve brothers and one of their number was back home with their father and one brother was dead. They used the phrase “and one is no more” to indicate that Joseph was dead because they thought he was actually dead and said so (Gen. 44:20). We see this phrase used again in Jeremiah 31:15 “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more” (see also Matt. 2:18, emphasis added).
- All The Days Of…Were – This phrase in the Bible always refers to the time the particular person was alive on earth. Genesis 5:5 states “thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.” The verses following verse 5 replace “that Adam lived” with the word “of.” Thus, we see that all the days of was used for Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, and Jared. This phrase was followed by and he died. But for Enoch, all the days of was used and was followed by “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for god took him“ rather than and he died.
The phrase “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” means that Enoch died (at 365 years) but rather than dying by some sort of earthly cause such as old age or an accident, etc., Enoch died through the providence of God. But he nevertheless died. The key phrases are “he was not” and “God took him.” (See Taken/Taken Away/Went Up and Was Not/Are No More above).
There are no exceptions to the preceding doctrines and facts. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that all human beings die only once without exception and that at death the body and spirit separate, with the corrupt body returning to the earth and the living spirit going to be with God in heaven. Moreover, the only resurrected body in heaven at this time is Jesus. The disembodied spirits of all other believers which are in heaven, including Enoch and Elijah, will be resurrected, body and soul, at the general resurrection when Christ returns. All Scripture which indicates that a person was taken by God or went up to heaven or was not, indicates that the person died. Finally, when Scripture states that all the days of a person were a certain number of years, for example, all the days of Enoch were 365 years, this indicates that the person in question has died.
Considering the preceding assertions, why do so many Christian theologians and scholars teach that Enoch and Elijah went to heaven, body and spirit, without dying? We don’t know and to offer an answer would be to speculate. In the absence of express statements or facts that allow reasonable inference, one is left to speculate. There is no place for speculation in biblical interpretation.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE TAKING AWAY OF ENOCH AND ELIJAH?
Enoch
- “21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:21-24).
- Enoch was the seventh [generation] from Adam (Jude 14).
- “5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Heb. 11:5, 6).
- 23Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:23, 24).
We can reasonably know from the text of Scripture that Enoch was a believer who lived on earth 365 years and after 365 years, “he was not, for God took him” and that he “was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him.” The reason God took Enoch was so that he should not see death. This phrase does not mean that he would not die. The reasonable inference is that God took him away so that Enoch would not die of earthly causes. But he nevertheless died because all humans die when their days on earth have ended. When the Bible says that a person’s days were 365 days or any other number of days, it means that after that period of time the person was dead. Scripture expressly states that Enoch lived to be 365 years of age and then that he was not (Gen. 5:24). The term “was not” is an idiom we find elsewhere in Scripture meaning “death” (Gen. 14:13; Lam. 5:7).
The phrases taken up or taken or taken away means the person taken is dead. This means that Enoch is dead. Even today we refer to a person’s death as “being “taken” by God.
Another thing we know is that Enoch had to eventually die because all humans die and that when he died, his disembodied spirit would have gone immediately to heaven. This is because he was a believer and that is what happens to ALL believers at death.
Hebrews 11:5 states in part “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found.” The phrase “taken up” is an idiom used in the Bible and is in use today that means that the person has died. The “that he should not see death” means that God through his own providence ended Enoch’s life on earth and thus he did not see an earthly death but he nevertheless died. The last phrase in this verse states “and he was not found” and is used in a similar way to that used in Psalm 37:36 which states “But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found.” In this verse we are told that he died (passed away) that he was no more (he was not because he had died) and that he could not be found (because he was no longer at that location).
There is no doubt that Enoch lived 365 years and then died through the providence of God and not by earthly means. And when he died, like all other human beings, his disembodied spirit went directly to heaven.
Elijah
“1 Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal… 11And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more” (2 Kings 2:1, 11, 12).
From these verses we see that Elisha observed a whirlwind take up Elijah to heaven. The Hebrew word translated here as “heaven” is shamayim (pron. Shaw-mah’-yim). According to The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, #8064, this word is “from an unused root [meaning] to be lofty; the sky (as aloft…alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve).”[3]
Elisha saw what the writer of 2 Kings describes as a whirlwind as the mechanism by which God removed Elijah from his location on earth at that moment. He was taken away into the sky. There is no further information for us to use to determine Elijah’s condition or destination. The word translated as “heaven” is what Elisha perceived which was the sky in the earth’s atmosphere. The word shamayim is commonly used to mean the earth’s atmosphere but it could be used to mean heaven where God’s throne is located. However, there is no indication in the text that Elisha saw the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2) and God spoke no words to Elisha telling him where He was taking Elijah. But we do know that Elijah was taken by God by what Elisha perceived to be a whirlwind into the sky.
We are left, therefore, with inference. So what can we infer from the description in this scriptural passage? We know that Elijah’s existence on earth ended at that point and we know that God had already replaced Elijah as His prophet with Elisha. We also know that he never appeared anywhere else because the Bible does not mention him at all as living after this point.[4] Also, the life of all human beings ends with death. So, we do know that he died, because all humans die when their time on earth ends and we know that his disembodied spirit went to heaven because he was a prophet of God and thus a believer.
CONCLUSION
The speculation that Enoch and Elijah went to heaven, body and soul, without dying cannot be supported by Scripture. We know from Scripture that Jesus is the only human being currently in heaven in his resurrected body and soul. All other believing human beings will follow at the general resurrection when Christ returns. We do know that Enoch and Elijah died. The disembodied spirits of Enoch and Elijah are in heaven now waiting with all other deceased believers for the general resurrection. To get to heaven, they had to die first like all other believers in heaven.
Some say that Enoch and Elijah were taken up by God so that they would not experience an ignominious death at the hands of their enemies. This may be reasonably inferred from the statement regarding Enoch in Hebrews 11:5 which states “so that he should not see death.”
Others state that Enoch and Elijah were taken by God and removed or translated to another location on earth. But this is pure speculation, is not expressly stated, and cannot be reasonably inferred from the text of Scripture. No mention is made of Elijah walking on earth after he was taken up toward the heavens.[5]
That God providentially took the lives of Enoch and Elijah taking them body and soul up toward the heavens in a whirlwind with their bodies returning to earth and their disembodied spirits going to heaven is the understanding of this event that is most consistent with Scripture.
[1] Hades, called hell in some biblical translations, is the place of torment that the disembodied spirits of all unbelievers go to at death where they await the general resurrection and the condemning judgment of God (Ps. 9:17; Luke 16:22. 23).
[2] Unbelievers’ bodies return to earth at death with their spirits going to hell. The disembodied souls of the wicked go immediately to hell at death where they await bodily resurrection and the eternal, condemning judgment and wrath of God on Judgment Day at the end of the world.
[3] according to Strong’s, “Sometimes it signifies the atmosphere immediately surrounding the earth, in which the fowls of the air fly. Sometimes it is used of the space in which the clouds are floating. In other places it refers to the vast expanse through which the stars are moving in their courses.… It includes all space that is not occupied by the terrestrial globe, and extends from the air we breathe and the winds we fill around us to the firmament or expanse that contains the innumerable stars.”
[4] Some commentators point to the letter from Elijah to Jehoram (2 Chr. 21:12ff) as evidence that Elijah lived after he was taken up to heaven (2 Kings 2:1ff). The mention of Elijah in 2 Chronicles 21:12ff is the only time he is spoken of in Chronicles. This letter apparently was delivered to Jehoram a couple of years after Elijah was taken. But it seems that the more likely explanation is that the letter was written by Elijah before he was taken by God (since Elijah clearly knew his time was ending [2 Kings 2:9] and he would be replaced by Elisha) and left with Elisha to deliver it when he took over Elijah’s prophetic ministry.
[5] The phrase “went up…into heaven” is best rendered taken towards the heavens.
