Elijah, Enoch and others "translated" directly to the next world, or place or floating room in space if that's how one needs to conceptualize it. But for most we will enter the sleep envisioned by Jude until the dispensational role call.
From the book:
Immortal by Lex Meyer
pp.180-182
Elijah in heaven
“
Doesn’t the Bible say that Elijah went to heaven?”
By far, the most common reaction that I get from people on the subject of heaven is the question about Elijah being taken into heaven. Nearly everyone is familiar with the story of Elijah being carried away by a whirlwind up into heaven, so the first question they have after hearing John 3:13 is, “what about Elijah?” Did Yeshua forget about Elijah when He said, “No one has ascended into heaven”i?
No, Yeshua was not mistaken, and He did not forget about Elijah. The Bible does not contradict itself, so if we find something that seems like a contradiction, we need to investigate it further.
The first thing we need to determine is why Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind. Since that is not a common event, there must be a reason why it happened. After we figure out why he was taken, then we need to see if the Bible gives us any more information about where he was taken. When we let the Bible interpret itself, we will find that there are no contradictions.
There are a few interesting things that take place before Elijah is taken up. Three times Elijah told Elisha, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me”ii, and likewise, three times Elisha responded saying, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!”iii This shows us that Elisha was unwilling to leave Elijah as long as he was alive. He refused
to let Elijah simply leave, and he continued to follow him
around everywhere he went.
Similarly, we see that the sons of the prophets also spoke to Elisha twice saying, "Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?"i God was taking Elijah, because Elijah’s time as prophet was drawing to a close, and Elisha was going to replace him, but this cannot happen if Elisha refuses to leave his master. He made it very clear that he would not leave Elijah as long as he was alive.
The first six verses of this chapter are focused on the fact that God was going to take Elijah away from Elisha, because Elisha was unwilling to let Elijah leave on his own. Everyone mentioned in this text knows that Elijah is being taken away from Elisha.
Elijah knew it was time for him to leave Elisha, and he said to him, "Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?"ii We know at this point that Elisha requested a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit, and what happened next is where many people have gotten confused.
“Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”iii
I have heard many people say that Elijah was taken into heaven by a chariot of fire, but that is not what the Bible says. It says that the chariot of fire separated the two men, and that a whirlwind took Elijah into heaven. This was also
explained in the very first verse, which says, “...when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind...”i That is a significant difference, because that misunderstanding has led many to misinterpret what happened to Elijah.
If a supernatural chariot of fire took Elijah into heaven, it would be easy to conclude that he was taken out of this world in a supernatural way. However, the Bible says he was taken away by a “whirlwind” (probably something like a tornado), which is why the sons of the prophets said, “Look now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Please let them go and search for your master, lest perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.”ii They did not conclude that Elijah was taken out of the earth, but that he was simply taken away to a different location, because tornadoes do not carry things out of the earth’s atmosphere.
The Scripture says Elijah was taken up into heaven, but to which heaven was he taken? Many people do not realize that the Bible refers to more than one thing as “heaven”.
In Genesis, we see that “God called the firmament Heaven”iii, which we know from the context is a reference to the sky. The Bible also makes a number of other references to the sky using the word heaven, and even explains that the birds fly in the firmament of heaven.
pp.185b-187a
So, which to which heaven was Elijah taken? Did he leave earth’s atmosphere and ascend into the second heaven, where the sun, moon, and stars are? Or did he transcend the known universe and enter the highest heaven, the dwelling place of the Almighty?
Nothing in the Bible indicates that he left the atmosphere.
In fact, there is some pretty solid evidence to suggests that he was still on earth a number of years later, because he wrote a letter to king Jehoram, who was not king at the time he was taken away from Elisha.
“And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says the Lord God of your father David: Because you
have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah...”i
We know this letter was written long after the whirlwind took Elijah, because Jehoshaphat was king at that time, and it was a number of years before his son Jehoram became king. This fact is evident in the text, because after Elijah was taken, Elisha spoke with king Jehoshaphat.
“But Jehoshaphat said, ‘Is there no prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord by him?" So one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.’"ii
The Bible explains that Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, did not begin his reign as king until after the death of his father.
“And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Jehoram his son reigned in his place.”iii
“Now in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat having been king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat began to reign as king of Judah. He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.”iv
If Elisha spoke with king Jehoshaphat after Elijah was taken, and Jehoram did not begin his reign until after Jehoshaphat died, then how could Elijah write a letter to king Jehoram unless he was alive when Jehoram became king?
The only logical conclusion is that Elijah was taken up into the sky (not the highest heaven), and transported to another location on the earth. He was able to write a letter to king Jehoram because he was still living on the earth during the reign of king Jehoram.
The Bible does not contradict itself. No one other than Yeshua has ascended into heaven, not even Elijah.
(
emphasis mine)