Verses like this, when kept in the Law, keep the Bible a closed book of condemnation. Without Christ to unlock the scriptures and to open up the Gospel for us, we cannot be saved.
The surprising thing about our text is just how devoid it really is of gospel. Amos makes it quite clear that the “Day of the Lord” is a day of darkness and NO LIGHT!
The best way to get at preaching the Gospel in our text is to compare the prophets and rulers Micah holds before us to Christ, who is not only a better prophet but the prophet’s hope and the prophet “par excellence.”
We need the Son of God, Jesus, to set us free. Not by the Law, not by a social gospel, but by the blood-mark of the Lamb and a sacred eating and passing through the sea of baptismal regeneration.
God does not simply dismiss death. Instead, He actually takes it upon Himself and into Himself. He ingests, digests, and passes death so we might be spared from even tasting it.
It was the death of David’s greater son who would die for his sin and our sin in order that we might know the mercy of God to cover all our sin and sour grapes.