In the end, the only thing that really dies is death. For inevitable as death is, yet “in our bodies we shall see God.” God himself, appearing as Jesus Christ (meaning “the Anointed Savior”), would be born with a tangible body and show himself in that flesh to his own people at Jerusalem. He intentionally came to submit himself to mortal men so he could die and then be resurrected to living immortality, thus preparing the way for all the Father’s children to live again—permanently. The phrase “waste away” seems an apt description of old age. The awe-inspiring power of the Atonement reverses that.
Verse 6 describes the step-by-step eternal plan of redemption: because of transgression, all are separated from God’s presence (spiritual death); because of that separation, we are in a fallen condition; because of that fallen condition, we all experience physical death; God’s merciful plan provides resurrection for all, taking us back into God’s presence for judgment and thus overcoming all consequences of the original transgression and the Fall (see the chart accompanying the commentary at 2 Nephi 2:8–10).