At the end of Acts 7 Stephen was martyred, and while he was being stoned, he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (v. 59). Some use this to say that Stephen’s spirit went to a heavenly mansion. They think that since the Lord is in heaven, when He received Stephen’s spirit He must have received it into heaven. Again, this is an inference. This is not the truth. Suppose I give something to someone. After he receives it, he may not necessarily put it beside him or bring it to his room. He could put it in another place. The Lord Jesus undoubtedly received the spirit of Stephen, but we cannot arbitrarily say that He received it in the third heaven where He is.
Ecclesiastes 3:21 says, “Who knows the breath of the children of men, that it goes upward; or the breath of the beasts, that it goes downward to the earth?” Some translate the word breath in this verse as spirit in the first instance and soul in the second. Based upon this, some conclude that this verse states that the spirits of the saved ones go upward and the souls of the beasts go downward to the earth. However, this is again a problem in translation. The Hebrew word used in this verse should be translated spirit or breath. Ecclesiastes talks about everything being vanity of vanities (1:2). Then in chapter three it goes on to say that there is not much difference between men and beasts (vv. 18-20). This is what the writer of Ecclesiastes meant. Therefore, when he comes to verse 21 he asks, “Who knows the breath of the children of men?” meaning, “Who understands the breath of men?” This is a question. We can also put another question mark after the next phrase—that it goes upward. Furthermore, the verse ends with the phrase the breath of the beasts, that it goes downward. The question mark at the end of this phrase indicates that this is a question as well, meaning, “Does the breath of the beasts go downward?” This verse does not conclude that the spirits of men go upward and that the souls of beasts go downward. It merely shows us that no one can understand where the breath of man goes—upward or otherwise. Whether it is upward or otherwise, it is vanity of vanities and is not worth considering.
Many people also refer to Ecclesiastes 12:7, which says, “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it.” They say that the body dies and returns to the earth and that the spirit returns to God who gave it. Since God is in heaven, they conclude that the spirit must go to a heavenly mansion. This again is an inference. We have already said that although the Lord Jesus receives the spirits and souls of the believers, He does not necessarily place them in a heavenly mansion. For example, when I return money to you and you receive it, instead of putting it in your pocket, you may deposit it in the bank. Ecclesiastes 12:7 indicates that the body comes out of the earth and naturally returns to the earth. However, since the spirit and soul are given by God, when the believers die, their spirits and souls cannot remain in the material world and must therefore return to God’s spiritual world. Although they return to God, there are particular details in regard to how He arranges for them and where He puts them.
The passages quoted above are all from the Old Testament. We can also use the Old Testament saints as examples to illustrate that the spirits and souls of the dead believers went to Sheol. The spirits and souls of people like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob indeed returned to God, but Genesis clearly tells us that their spirits and souls are in Sheol.
The spirit and soul of a person are the person himself, and a person’s body is like his clothing, which is clearly shown in 2 Corinthians 5. Man’s spirit and soul are clothed with the body, without which man is naked. If someone today came into our midst unclothed, I believe we would not even dare to look at him. We may even wonder if this person had become insane and abnormal. We all love the apostle Paul, but if Paul’s spirit and soul were here without his body, would we dare to shake hands with him? I am afraid we would all be scared away. We would be scared because he would be in an abnormal condition. When a believer dies, his spirit and soul are separated from his body, and death is written all over him. Death is even filthier than sin. Nothing of death can be brought before God because God is the God of the living, not of the dead. Every dead person must wait until resurrection when his spirit and soul will be properly clothed with the body before he can come to God.
The Old Testament explicitly says that when a person came to serve God in the Holy Place, he had to be properly dressed. He could not be naked or have any condition of death upon him (cf. Exo. 28:40-43), because death could not be brought into God’s dwelling place. When those who have been saved die, they also cannot go to God’s dwelling place in the heavens. God therefore puts their spirits and souls in the Paradise in Hades so that they may rest and wait there. What are they waiting for? They are waiting for the resurrection. Once they are resurrected, their spirits and souls will be clothed with their bodies, and death will be swallowed up. Thus, their naked condition will also be gone. At that time they will be clothed with glorified bodies to enter properly and appropriately into God’s dwelling place, that is, God’s eternal kingdom.