Genesis 5:24 - What Does it Mean That "God Took Him"? Did Enoch Really Go To Heaven?

Many people teach that Enoch did not die but instead went straight to heaven. To come to this conclusion they force their own meaning into the somewhat obscure language, but ignore explicit statements in Scripture.

First, the Bible is very explicit about what happened to Enoch. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews mentions Enoch among many other faithful. Then in verse thirteen it clearly states: "All these died in faith." In verse 39 it states that “none of these received the promise.” Obviously, this could not have been said if Enoch had gone to heaven.

Genesis 5:24 states: "Then Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, for God took him." It explicitly states that Enoch “was no more.” His existence ceased. If you read the context you cannot fail to understand that this means Enoch died: Verse 23 states: "That the whole lifetime of Enoch was three hundred and sixty-five years." It doesn’t say “his lifetime on earth was...” but it said “his whole lifetime.” When it says Enoch “walked with God” it doesn’t mean that he literally went to heaven with God. It just means that Enoch lived a righteous life just as Noah “walked with God” (Gen. 6:10).

When it says "God took him," it means that God took his breath of life and he died. We still say God “took” someone when we mean the person died. The Hebrew word translated "took" (LAQAH) can mean taken in death. For example Ezekiel 33:6 says: "But if the watchman sees the sword coming and fails to blow the warning trumpet, so that the sword comes and takes (LAQAH) anyone, I will hold the watchman responsible for that person's death, even though that person is taken (LAQAH) because of their own sin."

When we try and say Enoch went to heaven we cause a contradiction in God’s Word. John 3:13 explicitly states that no one went to heaven before Christ, and other scriptures that say Jesus was the"first" of those resurrected from the dead to heaven. (Cf. Ac.2:34, 26:23, Rev.20:4-6). If Enoch (really) went to heaven then (that would be assuming) that Jesus was wrong in John 3:13.

Also, Romans 5:12 states that death came to all men, and that includes Enoch.

When we take the Scriptures in context and stop forcing some personal theology into the words, the only reasonable conclusion is that Enoch died.

Source: This is the chosen Best Answer by Bar_Anerges to this question from Yahoo! Answers.