Zechariah 3:4

And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

Ver. 4. And he answered and spake to those that stood before him] i.e. To the angels that waited upon him. Est autem hoc humanitus dictum, saith Junius. This is spoken after the manner of men; for properly men are washed, justified, and sanctified by the merit and Spirit of Christ alone, 1 Corinthians 6:11. But the Lord Christ speaketh thus to the created angels, his ministers; to show that he who only hath power to forgive sins doth yet therein employ the holy ministry for an instrument. See 1Co 9:18 Job 33:23,24 .

Take away the filthy garments] Those symbols of his sinfulness, See Trapp on " Zec 3:8 " so his sins were pardoned in heaven. But because it is small comfort to a condemned person to have a pardon granted him unless he know it, and be assured of it, thereof it followeth,

And unto him he said, Behold] By what thou hast seen in the angel's stripping of thee,

I have caused thine iniquities to pass from thee] Transtuli peccatum, as he once said to David, I have taken away thy sin, I have transferred it upon myself: speaking to my Father for thee, as once Paul did to Philemon for his son Onesimus, "if he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account, I will repay it," Philemon 1:18,19. This is the greatest happiness that can befall a man in this world, Psalms 32:1,2, and could not but be a singular comfort to these poor Jews, priest and people, amidst their manifold afflictions. A man that hath gotten his pardon is not troubled though he lose his glove, or handkerchief, nor though it should prove a rainy day. "Being justified by faith we glory in tribulation," Romans 5:1; Romans 5:3. Feri, Domino, feri nam a peccatis absolutus sum, saith Luther: Strike, Lord, strike, while thou wilt; my sins are pardoned. I thank thee, O Lord (said another, in his great extremity), for all my pain; and I beseech thee, if thou think good, to add to it a hundred fold. But behold a further honour; as mercies seldom come single.

And I will clothe thee with change of raiment] i.e. I will change thy rags into robes, thy stained clouts into clean clothing. Thou shalt be arrayed with the righteousness of the saints, Revelation 19:8, that twofold righteousness, imputed and imparted; that of justification, and this other of sanctification; that as an undercoat, this as an upper; that clean and pure, this white and bright: both must be had from Christ, who is made unto us of God not only wisdom, but righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30 2 Corinthians 5:19. Surely as our apparel is not bred of us, neither grows out of our bodies, so neither does this change of raiment in the text. But the blessed Lamb of God clotheth us with his own fleece, which is long enough and large enough to cover all our defects and deformities, and to set us forth to the admiration of angels. As he taketh upon him our sins, so he putteth upon us his righteousness. This is a blessed exchange indeed, a sure pledge of our peace with him, and with God by him. We read in our own chronicles that Edward, surnamed Ironside (in whom England was lost), and Canute, the first Danish king, after many encounters and equal fights, at length embraced a present agreement; which was made by parting England between them two, and confirmed by oath and sacrament, putting on each other's apparel and arms, as a ceremony to express the atonement of their minds, as if they had made transaction of their persons each to other; Canute became Edmund, and Edmund Canute. Even such an exchange I may say of apparel is between Christ and the pardoned sinner, &c. Christ puts upon his Church his own comeliness, decks his spouse with his own jewels, as Isaac did Rebecca; clothes her with needlework, and makes her more glorious within than Esther ever was in all her beauty and bravery.; rejoiceth over her, as the bridegroom over his bride; yea, is ravished in his love to her, with one of her eyes lifted up to him in prayer or meditation, with one chain of her neck, that chain of his own graces in her, Song of Solomon 4:9 .