JOHN - Will Jesus always have the scars in his hands and feet?

JOEL - The simple answer to your question is, no. As soon as the reason for Him needing them has past His body will be completely whole and perfect. (Alma 40:23)
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 scars 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)

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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