A simple example for me is the life of Jesus Christ Himself, as revealed in the Scriptures, the Word of truth, God-breathed out words from God Himself.
These all occurred at the same time, with Jesus' body AND soul AND spirit.
At death the Scriptures, both the OT & the NT, teach that the spirit & the soul depart from the physical body, which returns to dust. We know the body stays behind, on this earth. So where do the spirit & the soul go after departing the physical body?
Eccl 3:20 All are of the dust & all turn to dust again.
Ps 104:29 Thou takest away their breath, they die & return to their dust."
Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou
art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Genesis 18:27,28 Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—suppose the fifty righteous ones lack five. Will you destroy the whole city for the lack of five?”
Ecclesiastes 12:5-7 ...Man is going to his ETERNAL HOME & the mourners go about the streets— before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern
& the dust returns to the earth as it was & the spirit returns to God who gave it.
The silver cord is the bond of union between soul, spirit & the body, which when snapped, brings physical death. The soul & spirit are the immaterial parts of man, which DEPART FROM & CONTINUE after physical death, with the body being the mortal, corruptible physical part of man, while the spirit & soul continue to exist.
Jesus taught that one can kill the physical, mortal body but one CANNOT KILL THE SOUL. It continues to exist consciously, departing from the body.
Matt 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but CANNOT kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul & body in hell (Gehenna). (Heb 10:31; James 4:12)
Luke 12:5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear the One who, AFTER YOU HAVE BEEN KILLED, has POWER to throw YOU into hell (the fire of Gehenna, the Lake of fire, the fire of Topheth--place of burning--Jer 7:31; 19:12-14). Yes, I tell you, fear Him!
We know that Jesus physically died on the cross. We know that His dead, lifeless, physical body was laid in Joseph’s tomb, the burial custom completed. He was buried.
Mark 15:45-47 When Pilate had confirmed it with the centurion, he granted the BODY to Joseph. Joseph bought a linen shroud & taking Him down, wrapped Him in the linen shroud & laid Him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene & Mary the mother of Joseph saw where HIS BODY was laid.
John 19:38-40 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away THE BODY OF JESUS & Pilate gave
him leave. He came therefore, and took the BODY OF JESUS.
Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. So they took the BODY OF JESUS & wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the JEWISH BURIAL CUSTOM.
So, while Jesus lifeless physical body was buried in a tomb & wrapped with linens & spices, where did His departed human spirit & his human soul go AT THE SAME TIME?
Luke 23:46 “Father, into Your hands I commit My SPIRIT!’ And having said this He gave up the spirit.”
John 14:3 And if I go & prepare a place for you, I will come again & RECEIVE YOU TO MYSELF; that where I am, THERE you may be also.
Acts 7:59,60; 8:1 While they were stoning him, Stephen cried out, “Lord Jesus, RECEIVE MY SPIRIT.” Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he FELL ASLEEP. And Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen's DEATH.
Falling asleep was a euphemism for physically dying.
John 11:11-13 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." His disciples replied, “Lord, IF he is sleeping, he will get BETTER.” They thought that Jesus was talking about actual sleep, but He was speaking about the DEATH of Lazarus.
Acts 13:36 For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep (died). His body was buried with his fathers & saw decay.
Strong's Greek 2837: From keimai; to put to sleep, i.e. to slumber; FIGURATIVELY, to decease.
Ps 31:5 Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD, God of truth.
Eccl 12:7 ...Before the dust returns to the ground from which it came & the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Luke 8:55 And HER SPIRIT RETURNED & she got up immediately & He gave orders for something to be given her to eat.
Ps 146:4 When HIS SPIRIT DEPARTS, he returns to the GROUND; on that VERY DAY his plans perish.
Now we know where Jesus' spirit & peoples' spirits go after departing from the body & some that were physically resurrected, had their own spirits return to their now living bodies from God. At the same time Jesus' body was in the tomb, lifeless, His living spirit was committed into the hands of our heavenly Father, waiting for three days before His spirit would return to His resurrected body.
So now we know where Jesus body was & where Jesus spirit was during these three days. Where, then, was His soul during this three days?
All the souls of people, both righteous & evil went to Sheol (OT)/Hades (NT). Jesus was a man & experienced the same thing that all humans before Him experienced, upon physically dying. They went to the place in the invisible realm (where immaterial spirits & souls exist) called Sheol in the OT & Hades in the NT.
Genesis 37:35 Jacob said, "For I will go down to Sheol TO MY SON MOURNING."
Jacob knew where he was going after he died. He knew also he would see his son there & would go down there, mourning for his being deprived of his son via death.
Genesis 35:18,19 And as HER SOUL WAS DEPARTING (FOR SHE WAS DYING), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel DIED & WAS BURIED on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
Again the Scriptures verify that not only the spirit of a person departs the physically dead body (and can return upon resurrection) but the soul of a person does also & goes to a specific place prepared by God in the invisible, spiritual realm. It ALSO can return to a lifeless body, with the spirit & they will live again physically.
Psalm 16:10 For thou wilt not leave My soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Psalm 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; for He shall receive me. Selah.
Ps 89:14 What man can live & never see death? Can he deliver HIS SOUL FROM THE POWER OF SHEOL (hell)? Selah
Hosea 13:14 I will ransom them from the POWER of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting?
I Kings 17:21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times & cried unto the LORD & said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let THIS CHILD'S SOUL COME INTO HIM AGAIN.
Ps 68:20 Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord GOD is our rescuer from death.
John 11:44 And he that WAS DEAD came forth, bound hand & foot with graveclothes & his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them...let him go.
Ps 73:24 You guide me with Your counsel & later receive me IN GLORY.
Luke 9:30,32 Suddenly two men, Moses & Elijah, began TALKING with Jesus. They appeared IN GLORY & spoke ABOUT His soon departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
Luke 16:22,23 And it came to pass, that the beggar DIED & was carried by the ANGELS TO Abraham's side (bosom) & the rich man also DIED & WAS BURIED & in Hades, WHERE HE WAS--in torment, he LOOKED UP & saw Abraham from afar, WITH Lazarus BY HIS SIDE.
While Jesus' soul did go to Sheol/Hades in the spiritual, invisible realm, He went to a compartment in the temporary hell, called by various names: Paradise, Abraham's bosom or side, Gan Eden (mentioned in the prophets of Jeremiah & Ezekiel), or the Abode of Bliss as the Jewish sages called it.
There was a gulf, a separation that divided the place below in Hades, where the unbelieving went & were found in & the compartment above there, where the believing saints went, such as Abraham, Lazarus, Jesus, David, Abel, Enoch, etc.
Luke 23:43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
2 Cor 12:4 ...how that he was caught up into Paradise. The things he heard were too sacred for words, things that man is not permitted to tell.
Rev 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the PARADISE of God.
John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
2 Cor 5:8 We are confident,
I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
So now we know about Jesus' body AND His soul AND His spirit, where they were & the state of them--during those 3 days from after He died until He was resurrected.
'Your are mistaken because you know neither the Scriptures nor the POWER of God. God is not the God of the dead but of the living. You are quite mistaken.
And that, my friends, IS THE GOSPEL MESSAGE WE PREACH!
I Cor 15:1-8 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm.
2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures & that He appeared to Cephas & then to the Twelve.
After that, He appeared to more than 500 brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have FALLEN ASLEEP (died). Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth.
Hades/Sheol--Where Do the Dead Go?