The Three Shining Ones

"This is one of the most picturesque of the touches of Bunyan’s pencil. These are the evidences of the deliverance from the burden and accompaniments of sin. Yea, they are more: these 'three Shining Ones' are plainly intended to represent no less a visitation than that of Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. This will further appear by considering the particulars of their visit.
They all saluted the Pilgrim with one common salutation—“Peace be to thee.” Here the Three are One.
Then each of the glorious Three has a personal and peculiar office to fulfill, and some special gift to bestow.
The First says—'Thy sins be forgiven thee.' This is God the Father, to whom belongs pardon and forgiveness.
The Second 'stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with change of raiment.' This is Jesus Christ—God the Son. He takes away the rags of our own righteousness, and clothes us with the new robe of his own righteousness—the righteousness from heaven. It is an exchange—not the putting of Christ’s righteousness over our filthy rags, but the gift of Christ’s righteousness instead of our filthy rags.
The Third 'set a mark upon his forehead, and gave him a roll with a seal upon it.' This is evidently the Holy Spirit, who “beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God,” Romans 8:16. He imprints the Mark of ownership, the token that we are of God. He gives the roll of the parchment—the law written on our hearts—upon which the Pilgrim is to look, and out of which he is to read, and thence to take comfort, admonition, and instruction, and to present it by-and-by at the gate of the Celestial City. The seal is 'the seal of the Spirit,' to certify the credential, and authenticate its message.
Thus all the Three Persons of the Triune God have a work to do for man, and each his own respective office to fulfill, in the Pardon, the Justification, and the Sanctification of the sinner. And this great doctrine and fact is thus luminously embodied in the scene at the Cross, and in the appearance of the 'Three Shining Ones.'"[1]