I was once worried by the false doctrine that Christ only died for the elect, and that perhaps I was not in the elect and was therefore doomed. But thankfully the Scriptures teach us that God loved the whole world and that there is no person born who did not have a chance, because of: the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all. (1 Timothy 2:5,6) The doctrine that Christ's death only avails for the elect, and that some were born without a chance is heretical. That ‘all’ refers to all the world is made even clearer in 1 John 2:2 where, speaking of Christ, it written: he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
The death of Christ smashed open the prison gates of Sheol, and bound that jail-keeper Satan. Now if the gates of a prison are smashed open, it does not much matter if you were the prisoner intended to be released or not. All are free to go, unless restrained by the power of the one who bound the jail-keeper. This analogy is true with respect to the cross. Jesus Christ now has the keys to Sheol and thus the legal right to release anyone from Sheol whether good or bad, believing or unbelieving. But God is not going to release from Sheol those whom He does not want in heaven. This is determined by each person's response to God's love.
I would like to emphasise that God, because He loves all the world, has made a way for anyone to be saved through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. This is also written in John 3:14-17: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
The story of the serpent in the wilderness is as follows: The children of Israel murmured against God and Moses. To punish them God sent fiery serpents, which bit the Israelites and many people died. When the people acknowledged their sin and asked for deliverance God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and to put it on a pole. And God said of this bronze serpent: it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. (Numbers 21:8) The New Testament analogy according to Revelation 12:9 is as follows: The serpent is the devil. When a person, after being tempted by the devil, sins, the consequence is death: The sting of death is sin. (1 Corinthians 15:56) But when a person repents of sin and trusts in the work of the cross he is delivered. If there was not a devil to defeat, then we would never have been able to understand either the seriousness of sin, or the love that God has for us.
Notice that John 3:16 says not: God so loved the elect, but rather: God so loved the world. This includes all, both the elect and those not among the elect. God gives everyone a chance so that: whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
And that no sin is too great to be forgiven, is learned from Jesus' prayer for those who crucified Him, when He said: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34) And so Christ: made intercession for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12) according to the prophecy.
Because people in Sheol could not join God in heaven before Christ's sacrifice, Sheol is sometimes referred to as a prison. Here David and Abraham and all the good men who had ever lived waited for the moment when they could be released to go to heaven. I have heard it suggested that Christ announced their release when: he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. (1 Peter 3:19) Derik Prince thinks that this preaching may have been Christ's proclamation: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of Sheol and of death. (Revelation 1:18) Whether or not this was proclaimed in Sheol at this time is not important. What is important is that it is now generally proclaimed, and the devil now knows he has been outsmarted and defeated, and that Christ had taken out of his hands the keys of Sheol and of death.
Because Christ had the keys he could release those prisoners of Sheol whom He chose to release. This He did and He led these captives of Sheol to heaven according to Psalm 68:18: Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive. That this speaks of the souls in Sheol is learned from Ephesians 4:8-10 where it is quoted in the context of Christ who: descended first into the lower parts of the earth, and who: ascended up far above all heavens. This resurrection of Christ, followed soon after by the spirits in Sheol, is also prophesied in Isaiah 26:19: thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.
As a visible sign that the spirits in Sheol had been released to go to heaven: the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (Matthew 27:52,53) These were probably Lazarus type resurrections of their bodies, as the saints will not receive their new bodies until the return of Christ, when all are glorified together. Nevertheless their spirits went to heaven.
Then was fulfilled the beginnings of Jesus' hope upon the cross that: all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship . . . A seed shall serve him. (Psalm 22:27-30)