The record says Jesus ministered in Palestine. Well, that is a relatively tiny world of some 12,000 square miles, and yet Jesus was the Savior of all mankind in a world so much larger! The Bible is the record of Judah, and the New Testament, the record of the Savior’s dealings with the Jews in that little piece of real estate along the Mediterranean. Have you ever wondered what about the rest of His people? – those He redeemed over the rest of the world? Where were they? And what of the Lord’s love and concern for them? Well, consider this:

Late in the Savior’s ministry He was teaching in Jerusalem during the Feast of Dedication. It was wintertime. He declared Himself to be the Good Shepherd, that He was the door of the sheep. And unlike the Pharisees, He would lay down His life for the sheep. Notably He said, He knew His sheep by name and they knew Him, and He would lead them and they would follow Him.

And then He said this, almost as it were off-handedly, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” (John 10:16)

Wait a moment – other sheep – what other sheep? Who were these other sheep that were going to hear His voice? Well, those listening to Him there in Jerusalem assumed that He spoke of the gentiles. But they didn’t understand. He’d already told them He was not going to the gentiles, only to the House of Israel. No one at that day and time thought to ask Him who He spoke of. If they had, had they only inquired, their eyes would have been opened to an entire civilization of their own kindred of the House of Israel unknown to any of them – on the other side of the world.

These other sheep were of the tribe of Joseph in the Americas, an entire branch of the House of Israel broken off from the main trunk. They too were the Lord’s people; they had worshiped Him, and He would not forget them. They too would hear His voice in person, and be one in His fold. For 600 years already He had been their God, and shortly after His resurrection He would visit them, minister to them, and gather them into His fold. They were His sheep and He was their Savior. And the Book of Mormon is their witness, the witness of a lost civilization that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of all the world – and thus, my dear friends, our journey through that world.