All of the Old Testament deceased people went to Hades/Sheol upon their deaths. The O.T. non- believers waited DISEMBODIED in the torments side/compartment of Hades/Sheol until the final judgments in AD 70. The O.T. believers were in the Paradise side/compartment (aka Abraham’s Bosom) of Hades/Sheol and then were taken to the outer courts of heaven when Christ led captivity captive at His ascension in AD 30 (Psalm 68:18; Eph. 4:8-9). They remained there DISEMBODIED until Christ’s Parousia in 66-AD 70.
The Transition Period deceased saints went to the outer courts of heaven upon their deaths (Phil. 1:21, 23; 2 Cor. 5:8, 12:2-4). They were also DISEMBODIED. They waited there until Christ’s Parousia in 66- AD 70. The transition Period deceased non-believers went to Hades and waited there DISEMBODIED for the final judgments in AD 70.
Now this DISEMBODIED does not mean that they did not have any kind of a bodily “form,” but these were not physical bodies of flesh and blood, as those bodies had died and returned to dust. Samuel also, when he appeared from the dead to the necromancer or medium at EnDor with Saul present, had a recognizable bodily “form” and was covered with a robe or mantle wrapped around him (1 Sam.28:7. 14).
That is how we know Jesus did not distort reality in Luke 16:19-31, when He talked about the condition of the rich man and Lazarus, who were in two different parts of Hades. They each had some kind of bodily “form.” For example we see that the rich man in torments had “eyes” and a “tongue”; and the beggar. Lazarus, in Abraham’s Bosom, had a “finger.”
The term “DISEMBODIED is simply noting the fact that they are no longer in their physical flesh and blood body (they have died) and have not yet received their immortal, eternal, heavenly body. It says nothing about what “form” or kind of temporary body they may have in the unseen realm.
But now after AD 70, no saint is “DISEMBODIED.” Saints who die “PUT ON” their new immortal, incorruptible, glorified, spiritual, visible, heavenly bodies immediately upon physical death. Those new individual, immortal bodies are reserved in heaven for us born-again believers (2 Cor. 5:1). We get our new bodies to cover our “nakedness,” so we will not be unclothed (2 Cor. 5:2-4). [Regarding unbelievers, see “Lake of Fire”]
Regarding unbelievers see related “Topic Studies & Terms”: