He takes our Filthy Clothes and Gives us His

"Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?”

Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.”
And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by."
Zechariah 3:1-5


What a brilliant picture of the Gospel.
It is striking that Joshua didn't have to do anything. He didn't have to take off the filthy garments, nor put on the clean ones. He stood there while it was all done for him.

I'd be pretty confident in saying that the angel, who is also described as the angel of the LORD, is in fact Jesus. And so the phrase "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you" is a reference to the cross where Jesus took our sins upon Himself.

He took our sin (our filthy garments) upon Himself and took our punishment.
He had lived in absolute righteousness, and He 'covers' us in His life of holiness.


Living He lived the life we could not live, He died so that we might die with Him and He arose again so that we could arise with Him and live in His strength.