Lets look at Scripture-
Jesus told the thief next to Him on the cross- "Today, thou shalt be with Me in Paradise".
An Old Test reference dclares the Son of Man shall suffer the weight of sin in Hell.
Now, if take the Hebre word for Hell and look at its meaning, it is said to have two compartments- 1- of Suffering and Torment for lost souls 2- A comfort compartment for the souls that belong to God.
During Old Test times, animal sacrifices did not remove sin but only covered thier sins. Thus, they could not "be absent from the body present with the Lord at phys. death.
But to avoid torment and suffering, they were taken to "Paradise", the comfort side of Hell. (Read story Jesus told of "Richman and Lazarus".)
Jesus had not been sacrificed as yet for our sins, thus this Parable speaks volumes of where people went at Phys. death up until Jesus rose from the dead.
Another Scripture declares Jesus would Minister to those in Hell. (Actually Paradise). He would be explaining what was to happen for them, after He would be raised from the dead. (The spirits in Paradise would rise up after Christ to "be absent from the body, present with the Lord".
Scriptures declare Christ as the "first fruits of the ressurrection". After God bodily raised Christ, He was seen of some people, then ascended into Heaven to be with God. After that, the spirits of God's Children already dead, were taken out of Paradise and brought to Heaven.
At a later time, the Rapture will happen in which the "dead in Christ- (phys. bodies raised up again with sinuin flesh coming upon them) shall rise first, then those which are alive shall be caught up with them to meet Jesus in the clouds.
These coincide with all other Scripturesalready mentioned.
God Bless!!