2 Nephi 3

In the Bible, it says that Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Israel, "is a fruitful bough (tree), even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall." No one has known what that meant until the restoration of the gospel. Now we know that through Joseph's sons Ephraim and Mannaseh, it is his posterity that left the land of Israel and settled in the America's and other parts of the world.

All the prophets saw the day of the restoration and the Prophet Joseph Smith, but Joseph's prophecy is the most detailed. Joseph said this about Joseph Smith:

1. He would be highly esteemed by the posterity of Lehi.
2. He would bring the posterity of Lehi to a knowledge of the covenants the Lord made with there forefathers.
3. He would be great like Moses.
4. He would bring forth the gospel words written by the posterity of Lehi (Book of Mormon).
5. He would be called after Joseph's name and his father's name would be the same.
6. He shall write and speak other words that will go to the posterity of Lehi.
7. The scriptures that he will bring forth will prove the Bible true, will confound false doctrines and end contention, establish peace, bring the posterity of Lehi to a knowledge of their ancestry (Lehi's family), and bring them to a knowledge of the Lord's covenants. These scriptures will cry from the dust, or in other words, come from the ground.

While we revere Joseph Smith as a prophet, I think we will always fall short in realizing how a great a prophet he was and how important he is in sacred history. Only after this life when we finally see the big picture and have a complete understand of everything will we be able to really appreciate what he has done. When Doug Gibb appeared to his niece not long after his death, he said it would be a very long time before he would get to meet the prophet Joseph Smith because there were so many ahead of him. That says something about how he is thought of now in the spirit world.