Being taken up into Heaven

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Neither Enoch nor Elijah died. Instead, they were taken alive into heaven. They demonstrate what will happen to believers at the end of time.

 

 

ENOCH

 

Enoch has a very special place in human history. He didn’t die. Rather, while he was still alive, he was taken up directly into heaven:

Genesis 5:24. Enoch walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him.

Wisdom 4:10. Being found well-pleasing to God, he was loved. While living among sinners he was transported.

Sirach 44:16. Enoch pleased the Lord, and was translated, Being an example of repentance to all generations.

Sirach 49:14. No man was created upon the earth such as was Enoch; For he was taken up from the earth.

Hebrews 11:5. By faith, Enoch was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because God translated him. For he has had testimony given to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to God.

 

ELIJAH

 

The prophet Elijah also has a very special place in human history. Like Enoch, he didn’t die. Rather, he was directly taken up into heaven, while still alive.

2 Kings 2:11. As they continued on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

Sirach 48:9. [Elijah] was taken up in a whirlwind of fire, and in a chariot of fiery horses:

 

BELIEVERS

 

The narratives from Enoch and from Elijah give us a preview of what will happen to believers when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in glory at the end of time.

By God’s grace, we too will be taken up to meet the Lord in the air:

1 Thessalonians 4:17. then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.

Revelation 4:1. After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a trumpet speaking with me, was one saying, “Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this.”

Revelation 11:12. I heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” They went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw them.

 

SEE ALSO

2 Esdras 6:26. They will see the men who have been taken up, who have not tasted death from their birth. The heart of the inhabitants will be changed and turned into a different spirit.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.