what does the bible say?

2 Kings 2:11 says, “Then it happened, as they [Elijah and Elisha] 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.” Yet Christ said, “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

Both statements are true.  Elijah “went up by a whirlwind into heaven,” but as Jesus clearly stated, “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven…”  The “heaven” into which Elijah was taken was not the same place to which Jesus referred. There are in fact, three “heavens” mentioned in Scripture – not just one. The third heaven is where God’s throne is located.  That is where Jesus Christ is today (Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 3:21).  He is the only one who has the right to be in that heaven with the Father.  The second heaven is the vast space in which we see the stars, the sun and the moon, the comets and planets (Psalm 8:3).  And the first heaven, the one into which Elijah was taken into by a whirlwind, is the one in which birds and airplanes fly – the atmosphere around our planet (Genesis 1:20).