In addition to an Atonement being needed because man was fallen, the second major point of Jacob’s great sermon is to show what the Atonement did. As stated above, the Atonement overcame the death of the body and the death of the spirit (v. 10). Jacob explains how the grave will deliver up its captive bodies, and hell and paradise must deliver up their spirits (vv. 11–12). This same doctrine is taught in the Book of Revelation:
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. [Revelation 20:12–15]
Other places in the Book of Mormon teach this same doctrine (see Alma 12:12–18; Helaman 14:15–18).
Jacob adds a further dimension to the doctrine of the resurrection. When the spirit and the body of the righteous are restored (resurrected), their knowledge shall be perfect (v. 13). The wicked will have a perfect knowledge of all their guilt, uncleanness, and nakedness (v. 14). Everything we do is recorded in our brain and will be remembered at the time of the resurrection. President Joseph F. Smith said:
In reality a man cannot forget anything. He may have a lapse of memory; he may not be able to recall at the moment a thing that he knows or words that he has spoken; he may not have the power at his will to call up these events and words; but let God Almighty touch the mainspring of the memory and awaken recollection, and you will find then that you have not forgotten a single idle word which you have spoken ! [Latter-day Prophets Speak, 56]
“The righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness” (v. 14). “Their enjoyment” must refer to the knowledge of the Atonement having cleansed them of the sins and transgressions for which they had repented. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), so no one is exempt. The knowledge of “their righteousness” must refer to the many good works they have done. Jacob explains that this will take place after the resurrection when they appear before the judgment bar of God (v. 15). At the resurrection, the “righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still” (v. 16). The resurrection does not cleanse people, the Atonement does. They will be quickened (resurrected) by a portion of the glory that they have prepared themselves to receive (see D&C 88:15–32). If they have not made the Atonement efficacious to their lives, it will have no effect. The filthy will remain filthy. The justice of God is illustrated through the judgment (v. 17). The righteous saints, who have endured the crosses of the world, will inherit the kingdom of God (v. 18). The mercy of God is illustrated through the Atonement delivering the saints from death and hell (v. 19).