Answer
According to the Bible, Enoch and Elijah are the only two people God took to heaven without their dying. Genesis 5:24 says, “Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.” Second Kings 2:11 relates the earth-to-heaven translation of Elijah: “As they [Elijah and Elisha] were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.”
Enoch was a seventh-generation descendant of Adam through Seth. He was the father of Methuselah and great-grandfather of Noah. Genesis 5:24 describes Enoch as a man who walked “faithfully with God” (NIV) or “in close fellowship with God” (NLT). The name Enoch may originate from a Semitic word meaning “to dedicate, initiate.” Enoch was 365 years old when “he disappeared, because God took him” to heaven (Genesis 5:24, NLT). Some scholars believe Psalms 49:15 and 73:24 are references to Enoch’s story.
Elijah lived many centuries after Enoch during the reigns of kings Ahab and Ahaziah when Israel existed as a divided kingdom. Elijah was a worker of spectacular miracles, including the calling forth of drought and rain (see 1 Kings 17:1, 17–24; 18:16–46). He was perhaps the most powerful of God’s prophets in the Old Testament. Elijah rather fittingly means, “My God is Yahweh [the Lord].” Elijah spent his prophetic energies proving that Yahweh was superior to the false god Baal. The Bible says Elijah was walking and talking with his understudy, Elisha, when the two prophets were separated by a chariot of fire pulled by flaming horses. Suddenly, Elijah was carried up into heaven in a whirlwind.
Why did God take Enoch and Elijah? The Bible does not specifically give us the answer; therefore, we can only speculate.
Enoch and Elijah had one primary trait in common—they were both exceptionally faithful in serving and obeying the Lord. Perhaps for this reason, God desired to spare them from experiencing death.
Enoch lived during an exceedingly evil period in world history, right before the Flood. Almost every living person had rejected God, becoming wholly corrupt, and the world was full of violence (see Genesis 6:5–12). However, Enoch stood for righteousness and refused to be silent about the sinfulness all around him. According to Jude, Enoch prophesied against his wicked generation: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (Jude 1:14–15).
The author of Hebrews seems to suggest that Enoch was taken to heaven without dying because his great faith pleased God: “It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—‘he disappeared, because God took him.’ For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5, NLT).
Some hypothesize that Enoch and Elijah were taken to heaven in preparation for a strategic role in end-times events. Malachi prophesied that God would send Elijah back before “that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes” (Malachi 4:5). Some thought Jesus might be Elijah returned (Matthew 16:14; Mark 6:15). Elijah “appeared in glorious splendor” with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration to discuss with Jesus His soon departure (Matthew 17:1–8; Mark 9:2–8; Luke 9:28–36).
A conceivable theory is that the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3–12 are Enoch and Elijah. Neither is mentioned by name, but both have the “power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want” (verse 6). While this inference is possible, it is not explicitly taught in the Bible.
Whatever the reason, God had His purpose for taking Enoch and Elijah to heaven without their dying. We can’t always understand the Lord’s plans and ways in our finite human state (Isaiah 55:9), but we can trust and know that “his way is perfect” (Psalm 18:30).
