<p>9:3 <em>And his garments became radiant, exceedingly white, whiter than any launderer could whiten them</em>- The same word used about the white clothing of the Angels at the resurrection (&quot;white as snow&quot;, Mt. 28:3, just as in Mk. 9:3; Mk. 16:5; Jn. 20:12). In the midst of the conversation about His upcoming death (Lk. 9:31), there was the encouragement of what the resurrection glory would be like. The same word is also used about the Lord's current appearance in Heavenly glory with clothes &quot;as white as snow&quot; (Rev. 1:14- the very phrased used in Mk. 9:3). Indeed, the description of the risen Lord in Rev. 1 has many connections with the language used about His appearance at the transfiguration. Again the idea was to show Him how He would be after His glorification, to motivate Him to go through with the&nbsp;<em>exodus</em>&nbsp;at the cross which He must fulfil at Jerusalem.&nbsp; &ldquo;As the light&rdquo; (Mt.) is hard to understand, but the Codex Bezae reads &ldquo;as the snow&rdquo;, in line with Mk. 9:3.</p><p>Mark adds that the Lord's clothing was &quot;white as snow, such that no fuller on earth can white them&quot;. The Hebrew mind would have obviously thought of the clothing of God Himself, the &quot;ancient of days&quot; of Dan. 7:9, which is described likewise. The comment that no&nbsp;<em>man</em>&nbsp;could ever make them so white is also a hint in that direction. He was clothed with the clothing of God. This doesn't make Him God, for Revelation has many descriptions of the faithful having the same kind of clothing. Against this background, the promise of Is. 1:18 becomes the more awesome- that even although our sins are red as crimson, yet they can become white as snow. This can only be achieved by the wearing of God's own clothing, the gift of His imputed righteousness, which Paul extensively glories in throughout Romans 1-8. Rev. 7:14 speaks of plunging our robes in the blood of the lamb, and them becoming white. It's all so paradoxical- that this whiteness cannot be achieved by man, no fuller on earth could do this, but by plunging surely an allusion to baptism into the red blood of Christ. This is the challenge of faith- to believe that the promised whiteness can be achieved through Christ. It was possible even in Isaiah's time, on the basis that God looked ahead to the work of Christ which as it were enabled Him to do this. Therefore the reference to &quot;no fuller on earth&quot; suggests that there is a fuller in Heaven who can do this. And Mal. 3:2 is specific that the Messiah heralded by the Elijah prophet, John the Baptist, would be like &quot;fuller's soap&quot; in cleansing men through the judgment of their sins. David in the depth of his sin appealed to God to 'full' him (&quot;wash me&quot;, but s.w. 'fuller'- Ps. 51:2,7); and this was done for him, on account of the future work of Christ which the Father then held in view.&nbsp; The Lord's glistering garments are therefore available for all of us. And it is with that connection that the scene there becomes no mere spectacle to behold in awe from afar, but a real picture of our own possibility before God.</p><p>Luke adds that the disciples &ldquo;saw his glory&rdquo; (Lk. 9:32). This is absolutely the language of Moses and the Old Testament heroes seeing Divine glory in theophanies, and like the disciples, hearing God&rsquo;s voice (Ex. 33:18 Heb. &ndash; &ldquo;shew&rdquo; is the same word translated &lsquo;to see&rsquo;&rsquo; Isaiah- Jn. 12:41; Ezekiel- Ez. 1:28). Yet again the Lord was seeking to show those secular men that they were called to work on the level of Moses and the prophets in the new Israel which the Lord Jesus was creating out of manual labourers, prostitutes, tax collectors, swindlers and sinners. See on Mt. 17:5&nbsp;<em>cloud</em>.&nbsp;</p>