“He Is God and He Is with Them”: Helaman 8:21–23 and Isaiah’s Immanuel Prophecy as a Thematic Scriptural Concept

BYU Studies

“He Is God and He Is with Them”: Helaman 8:21–23 and Isaiah’s Immanuel Prophecy as a Thematic Scriptural Concept by Matthew L. Bowen

How does the Book of Mormon’s Immanuel Prophecy Connect the Nephites, the Mulochites, and Jesus Christ?

The Book of Mormon contains many prophecies about the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. One of these prophecies is the Immanuel prophecy from Isaiah 7:14, which was fulfilled in a miraculous way by Christ’s birth to a virgin. But did you know that this prophecy also had an earlier fulfillment in the eighth century BCE, when Isaiah promised that God would be with the house of David and protect them from their enemies? And did you know that this prophecy had implications for the Nephites and the Mulochites, who were descendants of King David through Zedekiah and his son Muloch? In this article, Matthew L. Bowen explores how the Immanuel prophecy and its meaning of “God with us” became a key theme in the Book of Mormon, especially in the writings of Nephi₂ and in the account of Christ’s visit to the Americas. You will learn how the Book of Mormon shows that God was with his people in ancient times, and how he is still with us today through his Spirit and his covenant.