This isn't my thought...but I saw this and thought it was a elegant way (to me, at least) to present the idea of why God didn't change His rules to forgive us...but STAYED within them and still was able to show us He loved us and wanted us home. The following is a mesage about the cross...

One beam horizontal, the other vertical. One reaches out like God's love. The other reaches up as does God's holiness. One represents the width of His love, the other reflects the height of His holiness. The cross is the intersection of both. The cross is where God forgave his children with lowering His standard.