What God said was that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would "surely die." What He didn't say was they would die from eating of that fruit or in that moment they would die. They had to fulfill their original design and purpose, procreating and beginning the work of filling the earth with more of their kind. For that reason, the animal(s) had to die for clothing. Innocence was lost and death became a reality to be dealt with in the earth.
It says something profound that God still was counting on the "human experiment" that the next step after sin wasn't to put the first two to death and really do a do-over with another pair. It would have been the simplest thing to do but we were made in His own image, which He is reluctant to destroy, we weren't made for destruction. Grace is the concept on which all human life rests from that moment forward.
I know in my own life I chose to follow my own path for a very long time in spite of knowing what God had planned. I had come to the belief that there was no way back to that path and still wake up each day thankful that I have a place in His kingdom at all, much less leading a church, I don't deserve it and God's grace is always amazing.
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