Heaven is another word for sky. Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind on a firey chariot into the sky, and then to Abrahams side (paradise). No one goes to heaven until the judgement day.
Good evening Kaycie,
Regarding "No one goes to heaven until the judgement day" please consider the following:
"When he opened the fifth seal,
I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been."
When the 5th seal is opened, John sees the souls of those who had been killed under the altar in heaven. The are conscious, alert, are having a conversation, and are given white robes to wear. So, this is just one of many scriptures that demonstrate the souls/spirits of those who have died being in heaven. Here is some more scriptural proof:
"Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
So according to Paul, to be present in the body is to be absent from the Lord and to be absent from the body is to be in the presence of the Lord. When the believer dies, their spirit/soul departs and goes to be in the presence of the Lord, but the body is decaying in the earth. When the resurrection takes place Jesus will bring with him the spirits/souls of those who have died in him and then God will reanimate those bodies with heavenly characteristics, immortal and glorified bodies, along with the living who will have been transformed and will take the entire group back to the Father's house. Paul reiterates the same information in the Phil.1:23:
"If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I
desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body."
Regarding the above, Paul teaches at the time of death that the soul/spirit departs and goes immediately to be with Christ.