Christ's blood is accepted for our redemption, yet the cross was His place of suffering and rejection. The blood represents the debt already paid, but the cross is the place, OUTSIDE THE CAMP, where Christ our Lord suffered the fury of God's hatred– (Heb 13:11-12) "For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate."
Sin is an offence and repugnance to God (Hab 1:13 / Nahum 1:2, 6). Imagine if all of us were perfectly holy, and there was one among the crowd that was filled with sin. His attitude, his actions, and all of his ways would disturb us. We would be infuriated and disgusted by him. And, this is how God sees man by nature; sin is an abomination unto Him; it disturbs Him, and it totally offends His holy nature. Therefore, the wrath of God against all unrighteousness is stored up and reserved against the ungodly (Rom 1:18 /2:8). The wages of sin is not only death, but it is death forever underneath the vengeance of God's fury (Rev 20:14-15). Something terribly violent has been provoked in God by the sinfulness of creatures, and He must pour that wrath upon Jesus Christ on behalf of His elect people. Therefore, the cross is the place of the suffering of the curse, and it is by the means of death (the second death endured and suffered) that reconciliation, atonement, and redemption for sin is made (Heb 9:15).
But, bless God for the blood, for it declares the work already FINISHED. It declares that the suffering unto death of our Lord Jesus is totally sufficient. No other payment is required; everything that God demands to give eternal life to His people has been paid. The offering was made ONCE and for all times (Heb 9-10). Under the law, the high priest could not enter the holy of holies at any time; he could only come once a year, at the time of God's appointment (Lev 16:2). Likewise, you and I cannot appear before God to put sins away; we can only come to Him at the time that He appointed, which was 2000 years ago at Calvary. It was there that our sins had to be dealt with forever. And, because they were dealt with, justice was honored, the law of God completely satisfied, and now we come to Him with all boldness, not to do something for grace, but to hear Him speak from the mercy seat where He has sat down (Ex 25:22).
It is from the Mercy Seat and by the New Covenant that God speaks every word of grace that He has for His people, and to provoke Him to speak from any other place is to guarantee your utter condemnation.
Here are four New Covenant promises that God declares in Is 49:8-17. They are unconditional in us and conditioned entirely upon the obedience of Jesus Christ the Lord (II Cor 1:20).
1. Christ will be all of the obedience that God needs to give grace to His people. – (Is 49:8-9) "Thus saith the Lord… I will preserve thee [Christ], and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves…" Christ's church shall be built by God Almighty CAUSING His people to inherit grace–the grace that Christ died to purchase.
2. Believers shall not hunger and thirst (Is 49:10). They shall hunger and thirst for righteousness, but they shall not hunger and thirst to the point of despair. The apostle John writes, "They [those who fall away] went out from us, but they were not of us [never]: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us (I John 2:19)." In spite of the trials, tribulations, and cares of this present world, the blood of Christ is SUFFICIENT for God to give "keeping grace" unto His chosen people. Therefore, those who fall away are not God's failures, as man would have you to believe. They are testimonies that men and women depart because they were never in the Covenant in the first place. But those who are kept by God are kept, NOT because of their own faithfulness, but entirely because of God's faithfulness to Christ. He gives us grace that we do not deserve and desperately need because He acts as a Father to us, chastising and comforting us, according to His eternal power, grace, and wisdom (Heb 12:1-15).
3. Not only shall His saints come out of chastisement, but also His elect shall come from the place of total fruitlessness. – (Is 49:12) "Behold, these shall come form far: and, lo these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim [thorns]." God shall convince His people that they can produce nothing in themselves. I recently read the story of a woman who boasted in her wickedness. According to her, she took pleasure in the contemplation of evil, the deed of evil, and the remembrance of her evil actions. But then, a believing minister, said, "My dear, you've forgotten one thing. You've forgotten the great pleasure the contemplation of your evil will give you at the hour of death." With this, the woman was struck in her heart, came under conviction, and later enjoyed the fruit of faith.
4. Therefore, we are to ever joy and ever obtain the joy of the gospel– (Is 49:13) "Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his elect." Obtain the comfort of the gospel, in spite of the fact that you do not deserve it, and you will have something to minister unto others (Acts 3:6).