On June 12, 2009, I walked through a heavy metal door, out past a high brick wall topped with razor wire. I held a bag in one hand and a bus ticket in the other. The only clothes I owned were the ones I had on.


Less than an hour before, I’d changed my prison uniform for “free world” clothes. It felt strange to put aside the white prison clothes I’d worn for over fifteen years. My new clothes didn’t fit well. They weren’t quite the style I would’ve chosen for myself. But in those clothes I finally felt free.


Israel’s High Priest wore “holy garments” when he went into the temple to minister in the presence of the Lord (Exodus 28). He would die if he entered the Most Holy Place wearing his own clothes. In Zechariah’s vision, Joshua stands before the Lord in filthy garments – unfit to make atonement for God’s people.


Like Joshua, we need someone who will “trade clothes” with us. Jesus Christ became sin for us on the cross so that we might receive the righteousness of God in Him
(2 Corinthians 5:21).