Old Testament believers and heaven

Another questioner asked a similar question very recently. Here are excerpts from that answer:

The Bible teaches that, upon life’s end, Old Testament believers went to the presence of God in heaven. Rather than using those precise words—that Old Testament believers went to heaven—the Bible often stated that a person like Abraham “was gathered to his people” (Genesis 25:8). Still, it is very clear what happened to Old Testament believers like Abraham when they died. The writer to the Hebrews included Abraham when he wrote: “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them “ (Hebrews 11:13-16).

The Bible does speak of a believer going to heaven when it comes to Elijah and his fiery exit from this world: “When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal… 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” (2 Kings 2:1, 11).