The Sign of Jonah

Jesus reproved a group of scribes and Pharisees for requesting a sign of His divine authority. He said:

An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 12:39-40

As Jonah traveled by boat to Tarshish, trying to avoid his prophetic mission to the city of Nineveh, a great storm arose. Jonah knew that he was the cause of the storm and that by his own rebelliousness he had placed his shipmates in danger. Feeling remorse, he requested that they throw him overboard: “Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you” (Jonah 1:12). And they did. And it was.

God prepared a way for Jonah’s salvation, but it involved three days in the belly of a fish (Jonah 1:17), or, as he put it, in “the belly of hell” (Jonah 2:2). Jonah’s prayer from that lowly state reflects his humility and readiness to receive God’s mercy.

Elder Matthew S. Holland taught:

As a symbol of the Savior’s sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection, Jonah may be flawed. But this is also what makes his personal witness of and commitment to Jesus Christ, offered in the belly of the whale, so poignant and inspiring.

“Forsake Not Your Own Mercy,” October 2025 general conference

Elder Holland encouraged us to see Jonah as a recipient of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice, not only as a symbol of it. He focused specifically on Jonah’s affirmation to God, which came after his soul “fainted,” when he finally “remembered the Lord:”

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.

Jonah 2:8-9

Elder Holland explained that the Savior’s gift is personalized for each one of us, appropriate to our unique circumstances and trials. In that way, He offers to each of us our “own mercy.” Elder Holland’s plea is to heed Jonah’s warning and not to forsake that personalized mercy which the Savior offers to each of us.

The Book of Mormon prophet Alma had a similar expeirence. After being rebuked by an angel, he lay motionless for three days, racked with torment because of his remorse for his sins. He thought of his errors in the harshest of terms, as a form of murder, since he had led people away from God. He wished he could simply cease to exist. But then came the moment of remembering:

I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

Alma 36:17-19

Like Jonah, Alma learned through his three-day sojourn of sorrow that he needed salvation, and like Jonah, he recognized the importance of accepting the mercy which Jesus Christ offers to each one of us.

Elder Holland urged us:

Forsake not your own mercy. Look to the sign of Jonah, the living Christ, He who rose from His three-day grave having conquered all—for you.

“Forsake Not Your Own Mercy,” October 2025 general conference, italics in original

Today, I will accept the healing and strengthening power the Savior offers me personally. I will remember that His atoning sacrifice produces gifts perfectly customized to our individual needs. I will receive and accept the sign of Jonah by choosing not to forsake the mercy He offers to me.