“Even the Tribes Which Have Been Lost”

"We have seen earlier through a modern revelation that the setting for the great work of the gathering, particularly of the ten lost tribes, is millennial (see D&C 133:23-34). Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written: 'We do not say that occasional blood descendants of Reuben or Naphtali or others of the other tribal heads shall not return to their Palestinian Zion, or assemble in an American Zion, or find their way into the stakes of Zion in all nations, all before the Second Coming of Christ. Some shall no doubt return to Canaan as true believers and members of the true Church, with the intent and purpose of fulfilling the scriptures and building up the ancient cities of Israel. This may well happen in some small measure, and to it there can be no objection. Great movements have small beginnings, and floods that sweep forth from bursting dams are first forecast when small rivulets trickle from the pent-up reservoirs. But we do say that the great day of the return of the Ten Tribes, the day when the assembling hosts shall fulfill the prophetic promises, shall come after our Lord's return.' (Millennial Messiah, p. 323; see also New Witness, p. 521.)" (McConkie, Millet, and Top, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 4, p. 153, italics added)