Last week I said St. Paul was, "Bald-headed, bowlegged, strongly built, a man small in size, with meeting eyebrows and a rather large nose." We don't know what the Prophet Isaiah looked like - except his lips - sounds strange, but we know exactly what his lips looked like.

Isaiah got a divine invitation. A couple of angels showed up and escorted him to a temple where the candles were flickering, the incense was thick with holiness and the smoke stung both the eyes and nose. When Isaiah looked up - high above him, was the Creator of the heavens and the earth - and his robe filled the enormous temple. He was surrounded by winged creatures shouting back and forth to each other. And when Isaiah realized where he was, he cried out, "I am done for! I am foul mouthed and the people around me are foul-mouthed. I have seen God - and no one who sees Him can live." Then one of the angels touched his lips with a red hot coal taken from the fire and said, "it's okay now." God then asked, "who will go?" And with charred lips and a quiver in his voice Isaiah said, "Me, I'll go - send me!" God said "GO!"

The hardest part of Isaiah's ministry was after God said "GO!" - God said very few would listen to him. That must have been soul-crushing. To be THE prophet of God - sent to proclaim the good news - and almost no one would listen. God said he had to go anyway. A remnant would hear and be saved - and the rest would not be able to claim God hadn't given them one last chance. Isaiah spent the rest of his ministry looking into the eyes and souls of those he preached to - wondering whether they heard or not.