Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God’s favor?
Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:10-11
I think it is natural for anyone to want to escape suffering of any sort, even punishment rightly deserving to us. Nobody has an intrinsic desire to stand in front of a train, no matter how wretched they may feel themselves to be. Ever since our first parents hid themselves in the garden, there has been a proclivity to hide ourselves from the punishment we are due. And yet those who come to truly understand God’s righteous nature know that they cannot merely ask him to overlook our sinfulness. As if he can wink and nod at it, and all will be well. It may come as a bit of a surprise to us but God never pronounces guilty people innocent. God is not in the business of playing make believe and declaring the guilty innocent. Exodus 34:6-7 is revelatory to something very fundamental to his nature:
“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Yahweh, the LORD, will by no means clear the guilty. To declare the guilty innocent would be unjust. And this may shock us on this side of Christ because we may think that’s exactly what God does in declaring us righteous, in his justifying us. But this is an important distinction: it is not at the point of judgement that we are redeemed, for we are judged as guilty. No, rather, it is in our sentencing that we are redeemed. The judgement ruling is clear: we are guilty; vile sinners, according to the Laws’ demands for personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. We cannot rightly ask to be declared innocent. We can only ask for a Redeemer, and this can only be asked at our sentencing. Our only plea is that the penalty for our sins has been paid in full. The sentence has been served. We are not our own. We have been bought at a price.