Q
What happened to Jesus after he died? Because I remember he had told the thief on the cross that he would be with Him in paradise.
A
Since Old Testament sacrifices only set sin aside temporarily, believers in the coming Messiah couldn’t enter Heaven when they died. Instead, they went to Paradise to wait for Jesus to make His perfect sacrifice and open Heaven’s gates. Jesus spent three days and nights in Paradise preaching to them (1 Peter 4:6) and preparing them to go with Him (Matt.27:53). During that time, He also visited the unsaved spirits from the time of the flood (1 Peter 3:19-20).