Ephesians 4:7-9
“O but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE THE CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO PEOPLE.’ Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?”
Where did Jesus go and who did He rescue? Due to Adam's sin we all have adopted a sin nature. God is holy, so we are/were separated from Him. Jesus paid for these sins which cleanses us so we can now enter His presence. "but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord", (2 Corinthians 5:8).
However the godly people before Christ could not go directly to God at their passing. Jesus describes it in His parable about Lazarus and the rich man. At their death, the rich man went to Hades (a place of torment) and Lazarus went to be with Abraham. In this parable the rich man could see Lazarus in comfort. It doesn't say that Lazarus could see those suffering. I'm not sure if this is how it's going to be in the future Hell. It would seem appropriate that those who disobeyed God could see the negative results of their actions.
When The rich man asked Abraham for some water, the answer was no with this explanation. "And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set, so that those who want to go over from here to you will not be able, nor will any people cross over from there to us."
This provides an explanation for today's verse. When Jesus died, He descended to where Abraham and all those godly ones were and He brought them to heaven to be with God. What an entrance that must have been. What rejoicing.
Those that die after Christ go straight to Heaven, as Paul said, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." Thank You, Jesus.