Sacred Scripture teaches that Enoch and Elijah were assumed into heaven while still alive and not experiencing physical death.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is not the only person that was assumed by the power God to heaven. There are actually two other persons that were taken up to heaven body and soul. They were Enoch and Elijah.
Third, the Catechism affirms that Mary was taken body and soul into heavenly glory right at the end of her earthly life. One of the consequences of original sin is the corruption of the body (see CCC, 400; Genesis 3:19).
The Bible makes it appear that Enoch, Elijah, and possibly Moses were assumed by God after their earthly life had ended. While tradition states that Mary was assumed into Heaven, the Bible refers to three other individuals who may have been assumed by God after their life was completed on Earth.
After all, they disobeyed God's command to not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. God is the One who decides who does or does not enter heaven. There's no place in the Bible that says they were saved. But there is no place in the Bible that indicates the couple was lost, either.
2 Kings 2: Elijah Taken into Heaven.
Lazarus | Biblical Accounts, Description, & Facts | Britannica.
2 Corinthians 12-13: Paul Is Caught Up into the Third Heaven.
Jesus states in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of Heaven”, yet there are some who teach salvation by “faith only”, i.e. as long as someone believes, he/she will be saved.
So, where did the souls of people forgiven Old Testament saints go when they died? Their souls went to what we call paradise, the same place we as Christians will go after our demise.
The gates of heaven are said to be guarded by Saint Peter, one of the founders of the Christian Church. The playground is named the Pearly Gates, because of its location on St. Peter's Avenue. Nearly all of the information known about Saint Peter's life is recorded in the Christian Bible's New Testament.
The Bible does not say in any part that it is only the 144,000 that will go to heaven. The revelation to John supports Matthew 8:11, which says that many will come from every corner of the earth to sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The number 144,000 that were sealed or chosen are not pre-chosen.
You enter heaven by forgiveness and through the righteousness that Jesus gives you. You do not enter into heaven by the Christian life. It's always true that where faith is birthed, works will follow, but salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
It detailed a heaven divided into three degrees of glory, the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial Kingdoms, where resurrected beings would go after the final judgement.
The First Heaven is the heaven (reality) we see with our natural eyes. the Second Heaven is where Satan has his throne and the fallen angels dwell (unholy dark realm). The Third Heaven is where God has His throne (celestial kingdom) and rules and reigns over the universe.
Sacred Scripture teaches that Enoch and Elijah were assumed into heaven while still alive and not experiencing physical death.
In the New Testament, Jesus is said to have raised several persons from death. These resurrections included the daughter of Jairus shortly after death, a young man in the midst of his own funeral procession, and Lazarus of Bethany, who had been buried for four days.
As they were walking along and talking together, 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. Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more.
In the Sefer Hekalot, Rabbi Ishmael is described as having visited the Seventh Heaven, where he met Enoch, who claims that earth had, in his time, been corrupted by the demons Shammazai, and Azazel, and so Enoch was taken to Heaven to prove that God was not cruel. Similar traditions are recorded in Sirach.
In the seventh heaven, Enoch, now guided by Gabriel, is allowed to enter and sees the Lord on his throne face to face but only from a distance. This is where the legions of God's angels live in beautiful light.
Nothing, sad, bad, or mad. Nothing harsh, impatient, ungrateful or unworthy. Nothing weak, or sick, or broken or foolish.
We enter heaven immediately upon our death, or our souls sleep until the second coming of Christ and the accompanying resurrection.