Departure: Enoch and Elijah

The Bible describes both Enoch and Elijah as the only recorded people to never die but be taken directly to heaven.

- Enoch, the seventh from Adam and Noah's great-grandfather, is described with the unique phrase that he "walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away" (Genesis 5:24). The New Testament elaborates in Hebrews 11:5, stating "By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: 'He could not be found, because God had taken him away.'"

- Elijah's departure was far more dramatic. As recorded in 2 Kings 2, Elijah and his successor Elisha were walking together when "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." This event was witnessed by Elisha and later by "the company of the prophets," who searched for three days to see if Elijah had merely been transported elsewhere.

1) Many Jewish and Christian traditions connect these two figures to future prophetic roles. In Malachi 4:5-6, God promises to send "the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord." Jesus identified John the Baptist as fulfilling this role "in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17), though John himself denied being Elijah literally reincarnated (John 1:21).

2) Some interpretations of Revelation 11:3-12 suggest that the "two witnesses" who will prophesy during the end times could be Enoch and Elijah, since they never experienced death and Revelation states these witnesses will eventually be killed. Others suggest Moses (who did die but whose body was specially taken by God according to Jude 1:9) might be one of the witnesses instead of Enoch.

*The Jewish Talmud and various Christian traditions contain additional stories about both Enoch and Elijah, including beliefs that Enoch was transformed into the angel Metatron and that Elijah attends every Jewish circumcision ceremony.

References: Genesis 5:21-24, 2 Kings 2:1-18, Hebrews 11:5, Revelation 11:3-12, Malachi 4:5-6