Alma begins to teach a doctrine that he calls restoration. It is a concept that we understand, but that we do not discuss in the same way. The real elaboration of that doctrine comes in the next chapter, which was not originally a separate chapter. This introduction to the doctrine of restoration and its elaboration in the next chapter really do belong together.
The beginning of the concept of restoration is modeled after the physical resurrection. Thus “every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.” Modern readers will see this as part of the definition of the resurrection, but Alma sees it as a type for the spiritual aspect of the resurrection. After all, it is not only the body that is restored to the soul, but the soul to the body. Both the body and soul undergo a restoration, where that which happened on earth will be restored, both physically and spiritually.
The good are restored to the good which they have done. The evil are restored to the evil which they have done. In other words, the kind of person we become during our time on earth will dictate the kind of person we are when we continue after death. “That same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world” (Alma 34:34).