Let’s read the passage you are referring to. Genesis 5:21 says, “Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (NKJV). Now let’s read Hebrews 11:5, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” It seems reasonable to assume that “God took Enoch to heaven.” I would suggest three reasons why.

1. We see in these two passages that “Enoch walked with God” and that “he pleased God.” This means Enoch was a “godly man” who walked in intimate fellowship with God and who brought pleasure to God. This begs the question, “Where else, besides heaven, would God take someone who was such a wonderful testimony to him on earth?” There are only two eternal destinies for mankind mentioned in Scripture: heaven and hell. It would be unthinkable to believe that God took Enoch to hell.
2. We also read that it was “by FAITH Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death.” Scripture tells us in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Enoch’s “faith” was based on “God’s word,” which means that God must have revealed to him that he would never die, but that He would take him home to heaven instead.
3. The words “taken away” mean “to be transported from one place to another.” Again I would ask, what other place would God have taken him to? I ask this because we have other examples of men being “taken away” and in each case they were taken to heaven. In 2^nd Kings 2:11 we read these blessed words, “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.” This is the only other man that we read of that never died and he too was translated to heaven. The apostle Paul is the next man who was taken to heaven. We read of this in 2^nd Corinthians 12:2, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was CAUGHT UP TO THE THIRD HEAVEN.” The last example is of the apostle John who is found in Revelation 4:1, “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open IN HEAVEN. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘COME UP HERE, and I will show you things which must take place after this’.”

We see then that the weight of Scripture suggests that God did indeed take Enoch to heaven. Before we close this short meditation, many believe (including the present writer) that Enoch’s translation to heaven is a picture of the church’s translation to heaven. 1^st Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be CAUGHT UP together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” Notice, in verse 17 there will be those “who are alive” that are “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air. Like Elijah they will never see death! And just as Elijah was taken to heaven before God’s judgment came (i.e. the flood in Noah’s day), so the church will escape God’s wrath that will fall during the coming Tribulation Period. John’s translation to heaven also serves to foreshadow this truth, for after he was caught up to heaven the judgments of the Tribulation are mentioned (Revelation chapters 6-18) and the church is not seen on earth again until they return WITH CHRIST when He comes to reign (Revelation 19:11-16). (256.9) (DO)