The faithful before Christ’s sacrifice were placed into the center of the earth known as Sheol and in OT, in the NT it is Paradise. When Christ promised the thief on the cross, He knew He would rise from among dead ones after 3-24-hour days and 3-24-hour nights - He then went down to Paradise to release the saints in Sheol / Paradise and took them all up to heaven, which is where they reside today, awaiting the rapture / catching up of the saints.
I’m curious as to how you might reason this from the Scriptures.