The Book of Mormon tells us that all spirits are taken home to that God who gave them life (v. 11), but it does not say where that is. We know in the Church where the spirit goes as the spirit world. The Bible mentions the spirit world in various ways. It gives a similar statement to that of Alma, that at death “shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The Apostle Peter tells us that the Savior “went and preached unto the spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19), and of Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross: “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Jesus also gave the parable of Lazarus and the rich man wherein each went to a different place in the afterlife (Luke 16:19–31). Alma clarifies all of these passages, and we learn more from modern revelation and prophets.
President Brigham Young gave an interpretation of the phrase being taken home to that God who gave us life (Alma 40:11):
I will tell you. Will I locate them? Yes, if you wish me to. They do not pass out of the organization of this earth on which we live. You read in the Bible that when the spirit leaves the body it goes to God who gave it [Ecclesiastes 12:7; quoted above]. Now tell me where God is not, if you please; you cannot. How far would you have to go in order to go to God, if your spirits were unclothed? Would you have to go out of this bowery to find God, if you went in the spirit? … It reads that the spirit goes to God who gave it. Let me render this Scripture a little plainer: when the spirits leave their bodies they are in the presence of our Father and God, they are prepared to see, hear and understand spiritual things. But where is the spirit world? It is incorporated within this celestial system. Can you see it with your natural eyes? No. Can you see spirits in this room? No. Suppose the Lord should touch your eyes that you might see, could you then see the spirits? Yes, as plainly as you now see bodies, as did the servant of Elijah. [Elisha. See 2 Kings 6:17.] If the Lord would permit it, and it was His will that it should be done, you could see the spirits that have departed from this world, as plainly as you now see bodies with your natural eyes. [Journal of Discourses, 3:368]
Later in this same sermon, President Young said that the spirit world is “on this earth that was organized for the people that have lived and that do and will live upon it” (JD, 3:372).
The description of the spirits “being in a state” of happiness or fear seems to suggest a mental condition rather than two separate places. This concept is supported by a statement of the Prophet Joseph Smith: “The righteous and the wicked all go to the same world of spirits until the resurrection” (TPJS, 310). However President Joseph F. Smith referred to Alma’s teachings as a separation, a partial judgment where the spirit is “assigned to its place, either to associate with the good and the noble ones who have lived in the paradise of God, or be confined in the ‘prison house’ to await the resurrection of the body from the grave.” President Brigham Young spoke of those who reject the spirit of revelation as being “banished to another part of the spirit world, where the devil has power and control over them” (JD, 2:141). Another statement by the Prophet Joseph describes the part of the spirit world (paradise) where the righteous reside: “When men are prepared, they are better off to go hence… . The spirits of the just are exalted to a greater and more glorious work; hence they are blessed in their departure to the world of spirits. Enveloped in flaming fire, they are not far from us, and know and understand our thoughts, feelings and motions, and are often pained therewith” (TPJS, 326). The just spirits being enveloped in flaming fire is certainly different from the darkness surrounding the wicked that comes from their having “no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord” (v. 13). Joseph’s statement also verifies Brigham Young’s teaching that we could see the departed spirits plainly if the Lord would permit it. But where are the wicked spirits who depart this life and what is their condition?
Alma’s explanation of the place of the wicked spirits is one of the more difficult passages in the Book of Mormon to understand, because it sounds as if they are expelled from the earth into outer darkness at the time of death (v. 13). However, we have just noted that the darkness is because the Spirit has withdrawn because of their wickedness. Among them would be those who have chosen such evil works that the devil has taken possession of their house (v. 13). Their condition seems to be similar to the pre-earth servants of the devil who know their final destiny and dreadfully fear it’s coming (v. 14). That the servants of the devil know their destiny was illustrated when the Savior, in his earthly ministry in the country of the Gergesenes, met two who were possessed by devils. Upon recognizing him, they cried out: “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29). Concerning this passage the Prophet Joseph said: “It would seem also, that wicked spirits … know their future destiny” (TPJS, 208). The mental attitude of these two satanic spirits seems to be the same as those wicked spirits who were described by Alma as looking for the wrath of God upon them (Alma 40:14). The spirits of the wicked in the spirit world are apparently assembled together somewhere without the Spirit of the Lord, awaiting the resurrection. There seem to be various degrees of wickedness and of righteousness that exist in the spirit world.
Once more we turn to President Brigham Young for further insight:
We may enquire where the spirits dwell, that the devil has power over? They dwell everywhere… . on this continent; it is full of them. If you could see … you would see millions on millions of the spirits of those who have been slain on this continent. Would you see the spirits of those who were as good in the flesh as they knew how to be? Yes. Would you see the spirits of the wicked? Yes. Could you see the spirits of devils? Yes, and that is all there is of them. [ JD, 3:368]
President Young is apparently describing three classes of spirits that the devil has power over in the spirit world. The first class, those who were as good as they knew how to be while they lived on the earth, were probably the terrestrial beings, the honorable men of the earth (see D&C 76:75). Although they were good people by earthly standards, they were still among the congregations of the wicked (see D&C 62:5) because they were under the bondage of sin not having been baptized (see D&C 84:49–51; 3 Nephi 21:6; 12:1–2; 27:20). The second class, the wicked spirits, would be the telestial spirits, those not redeemed until the last resurrection (see D&C 76:82–85). The third class, the spirits of the devil, would be those who became sons of perdition in this life, and those who were denied a body in the pre-mortal life (see Alma 34:34–35, and the comments under, in chapter 12 of this work). These three classes described by President Young, plus the celestial class, were apparently separated by the state or condition of their spirit.
The four classes of people described above do not seem to be separated by a physical barrier, such as a wall or a fence. However, there are other restrictions imposed. The Prophet Joseph Smith said; “the wicked spirits have their bounds, limits, and laws by which they are governed and controlled” (TPJS, 208). In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, there was a gulf between the two (see Luke 16:19–31). That gulf is described by Nephi as the justice of God:
28 And I said unto them that it was an awful gulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God.
29 And I said unto them that it was a representation of that awful hell, which the angel said unto me was prepared for the wicked.
30 And I said unto them that our father also saw that the justice of God did also divide the wicked from the righteous; and the brightness thereof was like unto the brightness of a flaming fire, which ascendeth up unto God forever and ever, and hath no end. [1 Nephi 15:28–30]
The brightness of the justice of God, likened to a flaming fire, is probably the Spirit of the Lord that envelopes the spirits of the just, as the Prophet Joseph said (TPJS, 326). Either the flaming fire of the Spirit of the Lord would prevent wicked spirits from passing through it, or perhaps restrictions were placed upon them. If there were restrictions, they would be imposed by the priesthood. This interpretation comes from the Prophet Joseph regarding Job 1:7, “when Satan presented himself before the Lord, among the sons of God, he said that he came ‘from going to and fro in the earth, and from wandering up and down in it;’ and he is emphatically called the prince of the power of the air; and, it is very evident that they possess a power that none but those who have the priesthood can control” (TPJS, 208). The priesthood is an eternal power, and is held by some people in the spirit world (see Alma 13:7–9). Those not meeting the prerequisites, such as worthiness or receiving priesthood ordinances, would not be allowed to enter certain areas where the righteous were assembled. It would be similar today when a person cannot enter the temple without a recommend from their bishop and endorsed by a member of the stake presidency.
The gate to the path to eternal life “is repentance and baptism by water” (2 Nephi 31:17–18). The Prophet Joseph Smith taught on the subject of baptism:
Baptism is a sign to God, to angels, and to heaven that we do the will of God, and there is no other way beneath the heavens whereby God hath ordained for man to come to Him to be saved, and enter the kingdom of God, except faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, and any other course is vain, then you have the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost. [TPJS, 198]
Therefore, it seems that a requirement for entrance into what Alma calls the spirit world paradise is the ordinance of baptism. The vision of the redemption of the dead given to President Joseph F. Smith on October 3, 1918, as he pondered over 1 Peter 3:18–20; and 4:6, seems to verify this requirement.
11 As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great.
12 And there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality;
13 And who had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God, and had suffered tribulation in their Redeemer’s name.
14 All these had departed the mortal life, firm in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. [D&C 138:11–14]
President Joseph Fielding Smith concluded that his father’s vision was evidence that baptism was required to be among the righteous spirits. “There as I understand it, the righteous—meaning those who have been baptized and have been faithful—are gathered in one part and all the others in another part of the spirit world.”
The work of the righteous is to preach the gospel to as many as will receive it, so that whosoever receives it unto repentance may leave the spirit prison and enter into paradise when the ordinances have been done vicariously for them on earth. Through the institution of baptism for the dead, the Church is able to open the gate of baptism, and thus the gates of hell do not prevail against the Church (see 1 Corinthians 15:29; Matthew 16:19).
One of the oft-cited scriptures by those who object to the idea that baptism is a requirement for entering paradise is the promise to the thief on the cross: “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). The objection is answered by the following explanations of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
I will say something about the spirits in prison. There has been much said by modern divines about the words of Jesus (when on the cross) to the thief, saying, “This day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” King James translators make it out to say paradise. But what is paradise? It is a modern word: it does not answer at all to the original word that Jesus made use of. Find the original of the word paradise. You may as easily find a needle in a haymow. Here is a chance for battle, ye learned men. There is nothing in the original word in Greek from which this was taken that signifies paradise; but it was—This day thou shalt be with me in the world of spirits: then I will teach you all about it and answer all your inquiries. [TPJS, 309]
Hades, the Greek, or Sheol, the Hebrew, these two significations mean a world of spirits. Hades, Sheol, paradise, spirits in prison, are all one: it is a world of Spirits.
The righteous and the wicked all go to the same world of spirits until the resurrection. “I do not think so,” says one. If you will go to my house any time, I will take my lexicon and prove it to you. [TPJS, 310]
Since we have relied heavily on President Brigham Young to help us understand the spirit world, a testimony borne by Heber C. Kimball at the funeral of Jedediah M. Grant—both of whom were counselors to Brigham Young in the First Presidency of the Church—seems a fitting conclusion to lend authority to the statements previously cited.
[Brother Grant] said to me, brother Heber, I have been into the spirit world two nights in succession, and, of all the dreads that ever came across me, the worst was to have to again return to my body, though I had to do it… . O, said he, the order and government that were there! When in the spirit world, I saw the order of righteous men and woman; beheld them organized in their several grades, and there appeared to be no obstruction to my vision: I could see every man and woman in their grade and order. I looked to see if there was any disorder there, but there was none, neither could I see any death nor any darkness, disorder or confusion … that the people he there saw were organized in family capacities; and when he looked at them he saw grade after grade, and all were organized and in perfect harmony… . Why it is just as brother Brigham says it was; it is just as he has told us many a time.”
He saw the righteous gathered together in the spirit world, and there were no wicked spirits among them. [JD, 4:135–36]
With the teachings in the book of Alma and those from our latter-day prophets, supplementing the Bible, we Latter-day Saints know more about the spirit world than any other people on earth. However, there is still much that we do not know, but the additional teachings that we do have should inspire us to prepare ourselves for the time when we enter into that “state of the soul [spirit] between death and the resurrection) (Alma 40:11).