diff --git a/jstests/libs/query/change_stream_util.js b/jstests/libs/query/change_stream_util.js
index 86f58619077..b09775d1fe5 100644
--- a/jstests/libs/query/change_stream_util.js
+++ b/jstests/libs/query/change_stream_util.js
@@ -592,14 +592,24 @@ export function ChangeStreamTest(_db, options) {
 
         let changes = self.getNextChanges(cursor, expectedNumChanges, skipFirstBatch);
         if (ignoreOrder) {
-            const errMsgFunc = () => `${tojsonMaybeTruncate(changes)} != ${tojsonMaybeTruncate(expectedChanges)}`;
-            assert.eq(changes.length, expectedNumChanges, errMsgFunc);
+            const lengthMismatchErrMsg = () =>
+                "Change stream event count mismatch (order ignored). " +
+                `Expected ${expectedNumChanges} event(s), observed ${changes.length}. ` +
+                `Expected events: ${tojsonMaybeTruncate(expectedChanges)}. ` +
+                `Observed events: ${tojsonMaybeTruncate(changes)}.`;
+            assert.eq(changes.length, expectedNumChanges, lengthMismatchErrMsg);
             for (let i = 0; i < changes.length; i++) {
+                const itemMismatchErrMsg = () =>
+                    "Change stream event mismatch (order ignored). " +
+                    `No expected event matched observed event at index ${i}. ` +
+                    `Observed event: ${tojsonMaybeTruncate(changes[i])}. ` +
+                    `Expected events: ${tojsonMaybeTruncate(expectedChanges)}. ` +
+                    `Observed events: ${tojsonMaybeTruncate(changes)}.`;
                 assert(
                     expectedChanges.some((expectedChange) => {
                         return isChangeStreamEventEq(changes[i], expectedChange, eventModifier);
                     }),
-                    errMsgFunc,
+                    itemMismatchErrMsg,
                 );
             }
         } else {
diff --git a/jstests/sharding/query/change_streams/change_streams_with_config_transitions.js b/jstests/sharding/query/change_streams/change_streams_with_config_transitions.js
index 311c31ba363..f38aa592b9d 100644
--- a/jstests/sharding/query/change_streams/change_streams_with_config_transitions.js
+++ b/jstests/sharding/query/change_streams/change_streams_with_config_transitions.js
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ function runTransitionTestCases(transitionType, watchMode, collSetupType) {
     // the transition (we use the first event by the previous test case as resume point).
     csCursor = null;
     const resumePoint = observedEvents[0]._id;
+    const resumeId = observedEvents[0].fullDocument._id;
 
     try {
         csCursor = cst.getChangeStream({watchMode: watchMode, coll: coll, resumeAfter: resumePoint});
@@ -133,7 +134,13 @@ function runTransitionTestCases(transitionType, watchMode, collSetupType) {
 
     // On the other hand, a change stream resumed before a "transition from dedicated config server"
     // is expected to retrieve all the subsequent events.
-    cst.assertNextChangesEqualUnordered({cursor: csCursor, expectedChanges: expectedEvents.slice(1)});
+    //
+    // We exclude the event we resumed from (observedEvents[0]) rather than always slicing
+    // expectedEvents at index 0. In a sharded cluster the change stream delivers events in
+    // cluster-time order, which can differ from insertion order, so the first observed event
+    // may not be expectedEvents[0].
+    const resumedExpected = expectedEvents.filter((e) => e.fullDocument._id !== resumeId);
+    cst.assertNextChangesEqualUnordered({cursor: csCursor, expectedChanges: resumedExpected});
     cst.cleanUp();
 }