Elijah and Enoch have gone to heaven. The biblical passages prove it to you, but I have even a better proof.
No human went to heaven before Christ because as Revelation says, Jesus is
"the firstborn from the dead".
John the Baptist did not go to heaven because he died before Jesus opened the way. This is why Jesus could say....
"Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has not been raised up anyone greater than John the Baptist, but a lesser person in the Kingdom of the heavens is greater than he is." (Matthew 11:11)
Hebrews 10:19-21...
"Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness for the way of entry into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 which he opened up for us as a new and living way through the curtain, that is, his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God."
If you recall, the curtain separating the Holy compartment from the Most Holy, in the temple was rent in two from top to bottom, when Jesus died, signifying that the way to heaven was now open for others to follow, once Jesus had returned to his Father. John 3:13 confirms the truth of that statement. No human went to heaven before Jesus.
Elijah and Moses appeared to Jesus and his disciples and they spoke to them. (Matthew 17:3-4)
So they are not " without consciousness " as the Watchtower claims, but are still alive. Not only Elijah and Enoch went to heaven, but also Moses.
Sorry, but that is not correct. Moses and Elijah were not physically present at the transfiguration. Jesus said it was a “vision”, (Matthew 17:9) and he was fulfilling the promise he made that some of his disciples would not die before they saw Jesus coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:28)
“Men, brothers, it is permissible to speak with freeness of speech to you about the family head David, that he died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.......For David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, ‘Jehovah said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand 35 until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.”’ (Acts of the Apostles 2:29-35) If David didn’t go to heaven, then neither did Moses or Elijah, or any other of the ancient prophets. Those taken into the new covenant with Jesus were those who survived after Jesus.
And what did Jesus mean in John 3:13?
Behold:
Question: "Does John 3:13 mean that no one went to Heaven before Jesus?"
Answer: In
John 3:13 Jesus says to Nicodemus, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven–the
Son of Man.” This verse is somewhat difficult to interpret and is often misunderstood. It is also frequently used by those who want to find contradictions in the Bible.
Misunderstood? Or uncomfortably stating something that those in Christendom do not want to acknowledge? It’s not just John 3:13.
The gist of
John 3:13 is this: “None of your earthly teachers can really teach you about heaven, because none of them have actually
been there. However, I
have been there. In fact, it is My home. I have come to you from heaven, and I have brought with Me experiential knowledge of that place. My testimony carries weight; I can tell you the truth about salvation.”
LOL...Who says? That bit of spin is in no way supported by the rest of the Bible.
The NLT brings out the meaning well: “No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.”
Read it in any other translation. That is not what it says.
The Mounce Greek Interlinear says....”
“No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down out of heaven, the Son of Man.”
No tap dancing required.
In claiming a heavenly abode, Jesus was claiming deity. Nicodemus himself had already admitted that Jesus was extraordinary when he said, “We know you are a teacher who has come from God” (verse 2).
Jesus was not claiming deity just because he came from heaven. Angels came from heaven and none of them claimed deity. Nicodemus said that Jesus had come “from God” not that he “was God”.
Jesus was not teaching that no one had ever gone to heaven before. Obviously, the Old Testament saints had gone to heaven (or paradise) when they died ( Mark 12:26-27 ), and Enoch and Elijah had been taken there without dying ( Genesis 5:24 ; Hebrews 11:5 ; 2 Kings 2:11 ). Rather, He was teaching that, of all rabbis, He had the best credentials. Jesus has direct contact with heaven; He is an expert on the subject.
Source:
Does John 3:13 mean that no one went to Heaven before Jesus?
Do you realise that even the “saints” did not go straight to heaven when they died?
Paul’s words to the Thessalonians tells us that all would sleep in death until Christ’s return.....
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. . . . . For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 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, and so we will always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13,15-17 ESV)
Those “dead in Christ” would “rise first”.....but not until “the coming of the Lord”.