At death, our spirit and soul are separated from the body. The body quickly decomposes into its chemical elements, but the spirit and soul continue in conscious existence, awaiting a new body at the time of resurrection (Ecclesiastes 12:7; Psa. 16:9-11).  

 God is perfectly holy. He cannot tolerate sin in His presence (Habakkuk 1:13). For this reason He assigns the spirits of men to temporary dwelling places until the resurrection and judgment. We call this interval of time between death and resurrection “the intermediate state” because it is a time of transition and is temporary.  

Before the atonement of Christ, the spirits of all men descended into the center of the earth to await resurrection. 

This temporary abode for departed spirits in the center of the earth was called Sheol in Hebrew, and Hades in Greek. Both words refer to the same place. Both the righteous and the unrighteous dead went into this underworld existence, where they continued as conscious personalities (Ezekiel 32:27; Isa. 14:9-11; I Sam. 28:14). This existence was a shadowy copy of former life, described by a Hebrew word meaning “sunken and powerless, lacking life’s vital forces.” 

 Sheol (or Hades) was divided into two compartments: one for the righteous called “ Abraham’s  Bosom” or “Paradise”, and the other a place of conscious torment for the wicked. Jesus described this division in the unseen world in His story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).  

After the atonement of Christ, Paradise was transferred to heaven. 

After the death, burial and resurrection of Christ completed the remission of sin, God could relocate the place of the righteous dead. He moved it to heaven, with himself. Now when a believer dies, his spirit and soul immediately go into the presence of God. Paradise now means being present with Christ. It is a place of conscious blessing, rest and awareness of God’s presence; but it is a place of imperfection or incompleteness because the spirit yet needs a body.  

“And Jesus said unto him [the repentant thief], Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise “(Luke 23:43).  

 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).