We need to stop at this point and mention that since the restoration of the gospel we have received some interesting details in addition to those mentioned by Alma. For example, the spirits of the wicked are not immediately confined to a place of suffering if they have never heard the gospel. They are first assigned to a place of training where they can hear a thorough explanation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and they are given an opportunity to embrace the gospel. If they accept it, their sins are forgiven them and they are treated as though they had accepted the gospel while in the flesh. Of course their vicarious ordinances in the temple will have to come later.
Meanwhile, what about those who are told about the gospel but flatly reject it? These are the wicked who go to a place which Alma described. They must suffer for their own sins to the uttermost farthing. However, they only suffer until they had satisfied the demands of justice and then they are considered redeemed from their sins and God can then begin using them according to their various capacities and inclinations to fulfill his purposes. God’s program for the redemption of the wicked is described in D&C 76:36-38.
There is also one other new doctrine associated with the preaching of the gospel to the dead and that is the fact that those who heard the gospel during their earth life but rejected it actually get a chance to hear it again in the spirit world, and if they accept it there they can inherit a terrestrial glory. However, having rejected the gospel the first time they heard it, they can never inherit the celestial kingdom. This is set forth in D&C 76:74-78.
Alma wanted to make it clearly understood that being ushered into the spirit world is not by any means a resurrection. The resurrection refers exclusively to the uniting of the body and the spirit at a later time.