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"The People... Hath Seen a Great Light," 2 Nephi 19:1-2

2 Nephi 19:1-2, see also Isaiah 9:1-2

Isaiah continues to explain the calamities that are to come upon the House of Israel, as they ignore the Lord their God, his law, and the testimony of the prophets. Yet Isaiah pauses here at the beginning of this chapter to testify of the coming of Jesus Christ.

He says that their gropings in darkness will not be as bad as in times past, primarily because "the Light" will come among them. It makes reference to the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali. We learn from footnotes and from an account of the Savior's ministry that these were lands near or within the land of Galilee. (Galilee is also referenced here in the same verse, but it doesn't really illustrate the proximity of the regions to one another. )

In Matthew 4:14-16, there is a direct reference to these verses of scripture as being the reason for which the Savior did set off in the specific direction that he did at that point in his ministry. This is one of many instances where the Savior's ministry was a literal fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Therefore, learn this, oh man, that the words of the prophets of God shall be fulfilled -- all things in their season, and not according to the time frame of man.
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