Restoration

We often speak in the Church of the Restoration, meaning the process by which the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth in its fulness, starting with the Prophet Joseph Smith and continuing until today. In the Book of Mormon, a few prophets spoke of a restoration in similar terms; for example, Moroni wrote about his desires for his brethren the Lamanites concerning “their restoration to the knowledge of Christ” in the latter days (Mormon 9:36). Nephi prophesied about a restoration in these words, “And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his work among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, to bring about the restoration of his people upon the earth” (2 Nephi 30:8). This restoration of the Lord’s people is of course part of the Restoration as we speak of as we gather scattered Israel into the gospel and into the Church. Lehi similarly prophesied about one among the seed of his son Joseph in the last days who would “do that thing which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel” (2 Nephi 3:24). This is a part of the latter-day Restoration that is, I believe, yet to come.

Alma also spoke extensively of a restoration, but his meaning was different from a restoration of the gospel or God’s people. He generally used the term to speak of the restoration of our bodies and our spirits; in other words, the resurrection. He said to the people of Ammonihah, “The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time…. Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body” (Alma 11:43-44). He said something similar to his son Corianton as he sought to teach him the plan of salvation: “The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and 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. And now, my son, this is the restoration of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets” (Alma 40:23-24). He continued explaining this idea in these words, “The soul of man should be restored to its body, and that every part of the body should be restored to itself” (Alma 41:2).

But for Alma the idea of restoration was more than the physical resurrection but also implied a restoration of our very nature to be the same person we already were. He taught Corianton that the “plan of restoration” meant that “that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored.” He further explained, “The meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish—good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous; just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful” (Alma 41:13,15). His point was then that we cannot expect to magically turn into a different person when we are resurrected; rather, that which we have become will still be who we are. Joseph Smith put it this way: “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:18). The implication is that we must do all that we can to prepare for our own resurrection, for the time when that which we have become will be restored to us in a resurrected body. As we talk about the Restoration of the gospel in these latter days, we should also consider that restoration for each of us which is yet future when we will be restored to who we have truly become through the grace of Christ.