Amazing!
“Hell” before Christ’s resurrection was a holding place of the souls of the dead with two compartments, one for the damned and one for he righteous. The righteous compartment was one free of despair, where saints were comforted by each other - as mentioned in Jesus’ parable of the rich and poor man. (the poor man was comforted in Abraham’s bosom.). The two groups could literally communicate with each other, as he rich man and Lazareth did. This would not have been possible in the final Hell to come at the Final Judgement.
Christ freed the awaiting righteous souls from this compartment, leaving the damned to await the Last Judgement, after which they will be cast into Hell with the Devil and his angels.
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Jesus told the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
**Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.
[So] the gospel was preached even to the dead. The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.**
This is exactly why I tell people in Scripture studies that Christ did not go directly to heaven — but to Paradise — a waiting place for those who had gone before me. This is so beautiful for Christ to go and get those good people who were waiting for heaven to open.
One of the Gospels talks about the graves being opened and the spirits roaming through Jerusalem. But only the believers could see them!