The man went to paradise which was Abrahams bosom. If you read the parable of the rich and poor man you shall see this. When Jesus died and commended his spiritmto the father he hadn't ascended above the heavens yet. He still had to go take the keys from satan and also minister to the people in hell for 3 days. If you remember the prophets before Jesus coming fortold of his coming. See God was God of Isreal and no other nation but the plan of God was to bring Jesus, which is God in his own right, and connect all nations to God. So evrrybody who died before Jesus coming was given a chance to leave with him when he left from hell and ascended to above the heavens.
How did Jesus preach to these spirits in prison?
Some think that this verse means that when Christ died on the cross that he went to hel and preached to the spirits in prison. However the word hades or hell is not in the text. Let’s take the verse slowly and see what it means…
One of the keys is verse 18-19 which says
” being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,” the question is who is the individual mentioned in the words “by whom” found in verse 19?
If you read the verse it says “by the Spirit, 19 by whom” Thus the “by whom” is the Holy Spirit. So with that in mind the verse says the following that Christ by the Holy Spirit “went and preached to the spirits in prison”. OK that makes it a little clearer. But that begs the question…
Q: When did Christ preach to these individuals by the Holy Spirit?
The verse says that Christ by the Holy Spirit “went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly were disobedient,” when? The verse states ” when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.”
So Christ by the Holy Spirit preached to the spirits in prison in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared. Thus this happened before Jesus came as a man.