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STEVEN - Will Jesus always have the marks in his hands and feet?
JOEL - No. As soon as the reason for Him needing them has past His body will be completely whole and perfect as described in Alma:
"The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame." (Alma 40:23)
This includes Jesus eventually. According to Elder Tad R. Callister:
"In his resurrected state, Jesus retained the prints of nails in his hands and feet as a special manifestation to the world. Such marks, however, are only temporary. After all have confessed that he is the Christ, his resurrected body will, like those of all mankind, be restored to its "proper and perfect frame" (Encyclopedia of Mormonism)
Before that happens though He has needed those marks and will need them to identify Himself as the Savior to many people as prophesied in the Old Testement:
"And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends"(Zech 13:6).
"And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house." (Isa 22:23)
He needed those scars to identify Himself to His Apostles:
"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.(Luke 24:39)
And He said to the Nephites:
"Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. (3 Nephi 11:14)
After the Nephites felt the prints they "did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come" (3 Nephi 11:15).
And He will still need them at some future time when He appears to the Jews:
"And then shall the Jews look upon me and say: What are these wounds in thine hands and in thy feet? Then shall they know that I am the Lord; for I will say unto them: These wounds are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. I am he who was lifted up. I am Jesus that was crucified. I am the Son of God.And then shall they weep because of their iniquities; then shall they lament because they persecuted their king." (D&C 45: 51-53)
And when He appears to us as described by Elder Bruce R. McConkie:
"I testify that [Jesus Christ] is the son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. . . .
"I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.
"But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God's Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way." (McConkie, "Purifying Power of Gethsemane")
Jesus is of course the resurrection and the life and our God and has complete control over His immortal physical body and could make the scars come and go as He pleases. But we know that He will continue to make them visable anytime He wants a people to recognize Him until the sign is no longer needed.
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