Does Abraham's Bosom (Hades/Paradise) still exist?

This answer is in two parts. Part 1 comes from an Evangelical perspective and attempts to indirectly show that Abraham's Bosom no longer exists by arguing that it never existed to begin with. Part 2 tries to logically show how the definition of Abraham's Bosom is inconsistent with it remaining in existence after Christ's Resurrection.

Part 1: If it didn't exist to begin with...

There's a couple of arguments against its existence. I quote myself (hey, it's the same as just saying it again!)

If all those who died before Christ’s ultimate death were placed aside in an Upper Sheol (which, by the way, seems to make no sense – Sheol by definition means “low place”) then what of Enoch and Elijah? Elijah was taken into heaven by chariots of fire “And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” Is Elijah taken up to heaven, only to be plunged back down into the depths of the earth? Does the chariot of fire make a celestial u-turn? Or is Elijah of a special class? An elite group? Why then did Moses, the greatest prophet of all time (Deut. 33) not receive this privilege?

To be fair, the language in I Kings about Elijah's "ascension" is quite ambiguous. Calvin talks about it at length in his Institutes, which I won't quote here, but I'll quote my younger and hot-headed self again in summary:

Those who came before Christ were not refused the privilege of Heaven simply because the physical sacrifice had not yet been made. They had been redeemed, justified, and purchased. It is not as if God must await the result of the Crucifixion, hoping that Christ will succeed but all the while biting divine fingernails; – no, the Sovereign Yahweh of the Universe is not bound by time and will not be surprised by His own plan being carried out. The words of Christ echo still through eternity past, present and future, indeed, Abraham could hear “It is finished” as clearly as could the those surrounding the cross. To place the souls of those who precede Christ in a type of Limbo is to grossly diminish the sovereignty of God and his miraculous grace

That is, why should the Israelites have to wait in Abraham's Bosom for Christ to die? They were God's chosen people too!

Additionally, the whole concept of Abraham's Bosom is biblically rooted only in Luke 16:19-31, the New Testament. Did the Jews not even know about Abraham's Bosom until they got there?

Part II: Regardless, It obviously doesn't still exist

Now, I'm not being technical here. For all I know it's a physical place that, once emptied, remains there, but empty. What I mean by "non-existent" is that it no longer serves any purpose; that no one is there.

First of all, since part of the biblical foundation for Abraham's Bosom is the collection of verses that describe Christ's rescue of its inhabitants, I think we'd need to accept those verses for what they're saying.

Psalm 68:18

You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there

If Christ rescued the the captives of Sheol when he descended into Hell (as the Catholic church claims), then surely Abraham's Bosom serves no purpose. It's empty now, right?

I suppose one might argue that it's still in use for us, that as we die we go there just as the Jews did, until the last day.

Yet in Acts 7:56, as Stephen is stoned:

“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

So... unless Abraham's Bosom has Christ at the right hand of God in it, it's gone. (Plus, if that's where Christ is, is it really Sheol at that point?)

^{Answer taken in part from my previous blog post on this}