The gospel brings many benefits—forgiveness, victory, and redemption, among others. But we shouldn’t be so focused on a blessing like forgiveness that we forget the whole point is that we’ve been restored to relationship with God. The ultimate point of the gospel is God giving us himself. The cross removes the barrier that separates sinners from God. The cross restores the relationship with our Creator that was broken by our sin.

This is the meaning of the atonement, the cross whose very shape points to its purpose: the vertical beam symbolizes our reconciliation with God, and the horizontal beam shows how Christ’s sacrifice reconciles us with one another.

You’ll learn this and more from Jeremy Treat in his new book, The Atonement: An Introduction, part of the Short Studies in Systematic Theology series from Crossway. This book is both moving and helpful. Treat joined me on Gospelbound to discuss why he doesn’t like to talk about theories of atonement and more. As in previous works, Jeremy is especially helpful as he integrates the atonement with the kingdom: “The cross is the crowning achievement of Christ’s kingdom mission,” he writes.

Special thanks to Beeson Divinity School for hosting Jeremy and filming our interview. I hope you’re as moved as I was in learning from him.