Thousands of Israelites from the northern kingdom were deported to Assyria in 721 BC¹ and they became known as the Lost Ten Tribes because they were lost to recorded history after their deportation.² However, they are not lost unto the Lord.³ The apocryphal book of 2 Esdras⁴ reports that after their deportation to Assyria, the Lost Ten Tribes repented of their wickedness and escaped from their captors⁵ by miraculous means.⁶ Their chastening in a foreign land persuaded them to keep the law of God,⁷ which they had failed to keep in their own land.⁸ When the Lost Ten Tribes escaped from Assyria, they traveled one and a half years to a land further north⁹ where never man dwelt.¹⁰ These northern lands probably included eastern Europe (Russia),¹¹ northern Europe,¹² and the Scandinavian countries.¹³ Today, these lands are home to scattered remnants of the ten tribes,¹⁴ but these lands are not home to the main body of the Lost Ten Tribes as a distinct and separate people.¹⁵

Scholars and theologians have been so fixated on the physical location of the Lost Ten Tribes¹⁶ in the north,¹⁷ that they often fail to recognize that the word north also has a symbolic and spiritual meaning.¹⁸ For example, the word north almost always has a symbolic meaning in different contexts. For example, the word north is used to describe the northern kingdom,¹⁹ their deportation to the north,²⁰ their migration north to escape Assyrian captivity,²¹ and their future return from the land of the north.²² The word north symbolically means dark.²³ Therefore, in all the days of their wickedness and idolatry,²⁴ the northern kingdom was the dark kingdom and the Ten Tribes were deported to a dark place.²⁵

The word north also means to hide or to make hidden.²⁶ Thus, when the Lost Ten Tribes escaped Assyrian captivity and returned to the true worship of Jehovah,²⁷ they traveled north to a hidden and unknown place.²⁸ They became the hidden kingdom²⁹ with their prophets and scriptures.³⁰

Finally, the word north means sacred mountain,³¹ heaven,³² and the residence of angels.³³ David poetically identified mount Zion on the sides of the north as an allusion to its divine or heavenly status.³⁴ Thus, the Lost Ten Tribes will return from the north‒or heaven‒where they and all other translated people reside.³⁵ The Lost Ten Tribes will return from heaven during the future gathering at Adam-Andi-Ahman before the Second Coming.³⁶ However, their return from the land of the north will not be complete until they receive their temple blessings from Ephraim at New Jerusalem (Zion) in Missouri and then return to their promised lands in Palestine after the Second Coming.³⁷

A prophecy in Deuteronomy 30:4 confirms that the Lost Ten Tribes were translated and taken to heaven, saying: "If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee."³⁸ Some scholars reject the conclusion that the Lost Ten Tribes have been driven to the outmost parts of heaven because Joseph Smith made a statement that the outmost parts of heaven must mean "the breadth of the earth."³⁹ However, the Prophet spoke of what apparently or logically must be, as opposed to a prophetic declaration of what is. The Prophet did not change the utmost parts of heaven to the breadth of the earth in Deuteronomy 30:4 when making his inspired translation of the Bible.⁴⁰ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accepts the Joseph Smith Translation as correct and authoritative scripture.⁴¹

In addition to the foregoing, Joseph's comment has been too narrowly interpreted and misconstrued. First, Deuteronomy 30:4 is a general statement that can apply to both scattered Israel and the Lost Ten Tribes. Therefore, broadly speaking, the breadth of the earth would apply to scattered Israel while the utmost parts of heaven apply to the Lost Ten Tribes. Joseph's statement about the breadth of the earth has also been misconstrued because he actually made the statement with reference to a curse pronounced by Moses in Deuteronomy 30:7.⁴²

Concerning the curse in verse 7, Joseph said: "Many may say that this scripture [i.e., Deuteronomy 30:7 (the curse)] is fulfilled, but let them mark carefully what the prophet [Moses] says [in Deuteronomy 30:4]: 'If any are driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven,' (which must mean the breadth of the earth)."⁴³ Joseph's comment correctly anticipates that in a future day Israel's enemies will be smitten with a curse throughout the breadth of the earth just as Israel was scattered throughout the breadth of the earth anciently due to their wickedness.⁴⁴ However, Joseph's comment about the curse upon Israel's enemies throughout the breadth of the earth in verse 7 stands apart from the Lord's promise to restore the Lost Ten Tribes from the utmost parts of heaven in verse 4.

Collectively, these verses–and Joseph's comment about them–mean that in the day of gathering and restoration, scattered Israel will be gathered from the breadth of the earth where they still reside while the Lost Ten Tribes will be separately fetched from the utmost bounds of heaven where they reside. This conclusion is also reflected in verses 3 and 4 from Deuteronomy 30. In these verses, the Lord promised that there will be a future gathering of scattered Israel and a future restoration of the Lost Ten Tribes as separate and distinct promises.⁴⁵ These distinct promises are consistent with other scriptures that distinguish the gathering of the remnant of Israel's scattered tribes from the restoration of the Lost Ten Tribes found in Doctrine and Covenants Section 110:11.⁴⁶ Thus, in Deuteronomy 30:3, the Lord promises to gather scattered Israel "from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee."⁴⁷ In Deuteronomy 30:4, the Lord separately promises to restore the Lost Ten Tribes from heaven in their translated condition,⁴⁸ saying: "If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee."⁴⁹ Therefore, Joseph's comment about the breadth of the earth in verse 4 takes into account the separate promise in verse 3 that scattered Israel will be gathered from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

Christ gave to John the little book mission to prepare the Lost Ten Tribes to gather from the outmost parts of heaven, which John could perform precisely because he was and is a translated person.⁵⁰ Thus, the Lord will fetch the Lost Ten Tribes in their translated condition from outmost parts of heaven at the appointed time for them to attend the gathering of saints from all ages at Adam-ondi-Ahman and for their participation in the other events that will follow,⁵¹ including the marriage supper of the Lamb at the Second Coming.⁵²

Some scholars in the church say that the physical return of the Lost Ten Tribes will not occur until after the Second Coming based on language found in 3 Nephi 21:25-26 and in Doctrine and Covenants Section 133:23-34.⁵³ However, these scriptures refer to the spiritual gathering of the Lost Ten Tribes that will commence after the Second Coming as they receive their temple blessings at New Jerusalem.⁵⁴ Their physical return from the north and from the outmost parts of heaven will necessarily begin 3½ years before the Second Coming when they attend the gathering of saints at Adam-ondi-Ahman.⁵⁵ They will also stand with Christ on mount Zion at the Second Coming and then return with him to earth as translated angels from heaven when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven.⁵⁶