BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
THE GREATEST EXPOSITION OF THE FUTURE
By Milton C. Wilcox
THE FIRST EXPOSITION ON RECORD—GREAT ONES OF RECENT TIMES—THE TWO GREAT ONES OF TO-DAY—A GREATER STILL IN THE FUTURE
By MILTON C. WILCOX
Bishop Berkeley wrote, in the early days of the eighteenth century, these famous yet not often quoted lines:
“Westward the course of empire takes its way. The first four acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day. Time’s noblest offspring is the last.”
By “the first four acts,” Berkeley meant the empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome; and “Time’s noblest offspring” was America—a prophecy marvelous in its fulfillment. At that time, civilization knew only of the narrow border of colonies skirting the Atlantic, with an untrodden wilderness in the background, extending—men knew not how far; and filled with—men knew not what.
To-day the few hundred thousand square miles are augmented to three and a half millions, and the colonial population of three millions has reached one hundred millions. The great arteries of commerce have for many years united, with bands of steel, the Atlantic and the Pacific; but now the mighty oceans are made one by an artery through which each can feel the rhythmic beat of the great heart of the other.
THE FIRST EXPOSITION
And now on the western rim of the great continent, by the Golden Gate, is the greatest show of the world’s products ever exhibited by man. But this is not the first. It is a far cry to that in the days of Persia’s wealthy king Xerxes (Ahasuerus of Scripture), five centuries before Christ. But there we go to find the first great world’s fair of which we have record.
Xerxes was the successor of the great Darius Hystaspes, who had extended the Persian dominions to their farthest limits, and had left to his son a world empire of one hundred twenty-seven provinces. Proud of his realm and the glory of his empire, in the third year of his reign “he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even a hundred and threescore days,” and closed the six months’ exposition by a great seven-day royal feast, to all who were in Shushan.
THE REVELRY AND FEASTING
The feast was held in the garden of the king’s palace, the garden being festooned with fine cloth, white and blue, “fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble.” Couches, after the custom of the time, were provided “of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and white, and yellow, and black marble.” The drinking vessels, of great diversity of pattern, were of gold, with royal wine in abundance. And at the royal revel, every one drank as he would.
We do not know the extent of that exposition or its attendance; and the great question was not as to whether it would “pay,” but, “Will it please the king?” See Esther 1:1-8. But we do know that “Ichabod” is written over all her greatness and splendor.
THE MODERN EXPOSITIONS
The first modern international exposition was held in London in 1851. Since that, there have been seven, including the St. Louis exposition in 1904.
EXPOSITION AT SAN DIEGO
Worthy of mention this year is the beautiful Panama-California Exposition in the wonderful climate and noble setting at San Diego, open during the whole year of 1915. It is international in scope, exploits particularly the great West, has a marvelous and spectacular exhibit on the progress of man from primitive times to 1915, and a wonderful display in botanical gardens, and rare tropical flowers and fruits.
THE PANAMA-PACIFIC
But the San Francisco Panama-Pacific International Exposition stands out above them all, great in inception five years ago, great in the conception of its plan, great in the thing it commemorates, great in the indomitable energy and vision and sacrifice of the city and men who have made the exposition possible, great in its attainment, marvelous in its manifold and harmonious beauty. Shall we not say it is best thus far of earthly expositions?
Think of these features among the many others:
Its rectangle of a full square mile of grounds,—exceeding for exhibition purposes alone those of any other international exposition,—upon the beautiful bay, permitting unlimited marine and naval display.
PALACE OF HORTICULTURE, PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION
Its setting in the hillside, with the city at its back, and at its front the outstretching land and water, mountains and islands, and beyond the Golden Gate, the broad Pacific, its waters laving the shores of the far Orient, and bearing upon their heaving breast the argosies of commerce.
FORTY-TWO COUNTRIES REPRESENTED
Its exhibits from forty-two countries of earth officially participating, with industrial exhibits from others.
Its relics from four European expositions. Its $350,000,000 display from states, firms, and individuals.
Its eleven main exhibition structures, each equal in itself to some of the earlier expositions; its five magnificent courts; its 60,000 exhibits, housed within an aggregate area of more than 2,600,000 square feet.
Its marvelous color scheme, sympathetic and harmonious.
Its superb lighting effects, making it at night a city of dreams.
Its Tower of Jewels, 435 feet high, sparkling with 135,000 specially cut prisms, reflecting the colors of ruby, emerald, topaz, sapphire, diamond, and other precious stones, a magnificent spectacle by day, an entrancing object of gorgeous, coruscating, scintillating beauty by night.
Its 500 national and international conventions held in connection with it.
Its exhibits, like the canal just completed, the latest and best that man has achieved.
It would take volumes to tell the story of this the greatest yet of world expositions, especially in marking world progress in mechanical arts; and all its best work has been accomplished in the face of the greatest difficulties exposition managers ever knew. Yet it is at this writing, September 3, out of debt, without federal government aid.
The beautiful exposition is an ineffective pleader for peace in a world at war.
A GREATER TO COME
But there is a greater exposition to come, exceeding in magnitude, riches, glory, beauty, and achievement, the most extravagant dreams of man, meeting the heart longings of humanity as they have never been answered before, inaugurating a condition and era of peace that shall never issue in the crimson of war or the blackness of death.
That exposition will be ushered in by the coming of earth’s long absent, long hoped-for King, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
He came to earth once to become one with us,—the Babe of Bethlehem, the Man of Nazareth, the Lord of life at Bethany, the Martyr of Calvary, the glorified and ascended Christ, the divine-human Son of God. He is coming again.
Listen to His own words: “Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions [‘abiding places,’ margin]; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:1-3.
And some of the shining ones of the cohorts of God lingered at His ascension to heaven to say to waiting, wondering, worshiping disciples, “This Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.” Acts 1:11.
SOON TO BE OPENED
And He is soon coming. We may not know the day or the hour; but we may know when He is near. “What shall be the sign of Thy coming?” asked His disciples of old. This is His great general answer:
“And there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and597lift up your heads; because your redemption draweth nigh.” Luke 21:25-28.
Many of these signs have been with us in growing intensity for some time. They are much more than beginning to come to pass.
Among a score or more definitely, specifically predicted in Holy Writ, we note two others:
Eight centuries before Christ, the prophet, looking forward to the harvest of earth, hears this cry, and sees the response throughout the earth:
“Prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. . . . Let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about. . . . Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the wine press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:9-14.
SCENE ON THE “PUENTE CARRILLO” AT THE PANAMA-CALIFORNIA EXPOSITION, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
PROPHESIED TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO
Nearly two thousand years ago, another prophet saw the same scene, and saw the agencies at work stirring the world to strife; namely, “three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. . . . And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon”—Armageddon. Rev. 16:13-16.
Already the nations are moved by the spirits of demons. For at this very time, in the very heart of the world’s highest civilization for centuries, between nations professedly following the Prince of peace, man has another exhibition, a revelation of character as well as a fulfillment of prophecy, on a scale so stupendous that it staggers humanity. The fearful war that is waging in Europe, laying waste some of her fairest nations and noblest structures, is costing enough daily to build a half score of Panama canals. Its cost to date is colossal, estimated all the way from twenty to fifty billions, and at present its loss of life cannot be told. Its harvest of staggering debt, of crippled and poverty-pinched humanity, ruined cities, widowed mothers, orphaned children, victims of insanity, conscienceless criminals, the bitterness of engendered and fostered hate and revenge, can never be measured save by the infinite God. The exhibition is a moral revelation of man without God.
THE FESTIVAL HALL AT THE PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION
WILL THE AWFUL WAR END?
Will the fearful thing end?—Yes, for a little time, when the Laocoons at strife are crushed by the serpents of debt, disease, exhaustion. There will be a brief period of patched-up, compromising, deceiving peace (1 Thess. 5:3), to lull the world to sleep, and then, sooner or later, “the war of the great day of God, the Almighty,” the Armageddon of prophecy (Rev. 16:13-16), the ripened fruitage of the human philosophy of sin-loving hearts which has rejected the gospel of peace that Jesus Christ proclaims to the world.
Men may cry, “Peace,” but it is the eternal truth of God that “there is no peace . . . to the wicked.” Isa. 57:21.
TO GO TO ALL THE WORLD
One more prediction from the lips of our Lord: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14.
And this gospel is going to all the world in this generation as never before. The mighty barriers of ages in the dark lands of earth have been demolished, closed gates have been swung wide, and missionary and printing press have given the gospel of light and peace and salvation to earth’s millions. The King is soon coming.
But that gospel message is very definite, as of old. It does not flatter men in their sins. It does not substitute the human philosophy for divine inspiration. It does not exalt tradition above the word of God. It does not compromise with sin. Yet it is the gospel, the “good tidings” to the sinners of earth, the effectual remedy for the curse of sin. It does not deal in broad generalizations; it comes specifically home to the heart of every sinner, God’s message of good tidings to him.
Read the message of that “everlasting gospel” in its specific setting for this time:
“Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Rev. 14:6, 7.
NOT TO FEAR MEN
The fear of God calls from the fear of man; the glory of God weans from all the fading earthly glory; the judgment of God makes sin repulsive in the presence of the Holy One; the worship of the mighty Creator strips from the soul the adulation and exaltation of men. The gospel of God lays the glory of man in the dust, and exalts alone Christ Jesus our Lord.
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted.” Acts 3:19. The change must be radical. “Except a man be born again [born from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. Separate from the sin, or perish with the sin.
In heaven, on the throne of the universe, is Christ Jesus, our High Priest, ministering the virtues of His own sacrifice for the sins of men, and stooping to hear the faintest prayer for help of the slaves of sin and the children of woe and sorrow. Heb. 4:14-16. And all those who will yield to His law, His blessed and benign reign of righteousness, who will surrender their sinful life of rebellion, and accept of His gift of righteousness and life in Jesus Christ, God delivers out of the power of darkness, and translates “into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Col. 1:13. That is the work that the coming King is doing now on the throne of the Father—gathering out the subjects of His kingdom, living stones for the living, eternal temple of the Most High. Zech. 6:12, 13.
The scriptures cannot be reproduced which tell the story again and again, that “in Him was life; and the life was the light of men;” and that the life in Him—eternal life—is free to all who believe on the only-begotten Son of God. John 3:16.
Many know of His love and power and life. All may know it. “These things,” says the beloved apostle, “have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:13.
POSSIBLE TO ALL
In almost the parting words of the beloved apostle and the Book of God comes the fourfold divine-human plea: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take the water of life freely.” Rev. 22:17.
Then when this work is over, and the sadness and sin and sorrow, the woe and misery, the strife and tumult, the wars and plagues, are past, the King will come, and will call His sleeping saints from the corridors of catacombs, from the depths of the sea, from nameless graves and sealed mausoleums. From all the centuries of earth’s sad history will they come, and the creative power of the King shall transmute them from mortality to immortality, and death shall be swallowed up of life. 1 Cor. 15:51-54.
To the glorious city, “whose Builder and Maker is God,” the New Jerusalem, the future capital city of God’s earth renewed (Heb. 11:10, 16; Rev. 21:1-3, 9-27), He will take His children. He will verify His declaration through the gospel prophet given twenty-six centuries ago: “For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else.” Isa. 45:18.
SIN AND THE CURSE TO END
The challenge of Jehovah will hold good. The King will come, and His very presence will destroy sin and all identified with sin, and the earth marred by the curse shall be renewed. Of that spot in God’s universe most heavily cursed by sin, it will be said in that day, “And there shall be no curse any more.” Rev. 22:3. Of that planet so often called “God-forsaken,” it shall be said, after it has been touched by the creative power of God the second time, “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein; . . . and they shall see His face.” Verses 3, 4.
Taos Pueblo, the “painted desert,” as seen in the Panama-California Exposition, San Diego, California
In that world where war and weeping,598strife and death, were overwhelming in their awfulness, it shall be said: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God: and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away. And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new . . . These words are faithful and true.” Rev. 21:3-5.
THE SURPASSING EXPOSITION OF THE AGES
In this exposition, men have brought of the best of earth. Of this city of our King it is also said: “And the kings of the earth bring their glory into it.” “And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.” Verses 24, 26.
And there will be held the greatest world’s exposition since the daydawn of creation, in that glorious city of the King, with a circumference of “12,000 furlongs,”—375 miles square,—with its streets of gold, its walls of precious stone, its gates of pearl, through which shines, in softened, mellow radiance, reflected and refracted ten thousand times ten thousand, the living glory of the eternal God. Revelation 21.
The beauty and glory of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at night exhaust our adjectives. To tell the glories of the coming exposition, we need the vocabulary of the angels, eyes of immortals, and the inspiration of God.
Beautiful as is this one, it is temporary; that one to come is permanent—eternal. The exhibits here, like the marvelous floral display, fade and die; there they are struck through and through with the eternal life of youth.
In this exposition at its best is sin and strife and lust and crime. In the one to come, “there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie.” Rev. 21:27.
Here there is diversity of opinion, fighting and strife, war, death; there is the blessed unity and growth of life unending, for “the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.” Isa. 32:17.
TROPHIES OF HIS GRACE
And among the most glorious of all exhibits that will be brought home to the jeweled palace of the King will be the perfect glory and power and beauty and love shining forth from Him who gave all that, through winning man to its eternal inheritance, the forth-shining from Him, into and through the hearts and lives of those redeemed, justified, sanctified, and glorified, will be again revealed, in multiform glory and splendor, the exceeding riches of His manifold grace. The redeemed ones are the trophies of His grace, the purchase of His sacrifice, the fruit of His love. And of the Infinite One it is said, “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” Isa. 53:11. Then and not till then will the universe see “the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eph. 3:10, 11. Then, too, it will be seen that “all things” have worked together for good to them that love God, who are in harmony with the only purpose worthy of perpetuation.
ETERNAL PALACE OF JEWELS
The great city of God will be a palace of jewels, with its countless towers; and the richest jewels that will adorn it will be the saved from every land and age, each one reflecting some of the beauties of their King, as the Tower of Jewels at our exposition scintillates and sparkles under the blaze of electricity.
Soul, Christ our Lord is coming again. He is your Friend. Have you accepted Him as your Saviour? Will you welcome His coming? Are you ready?
Child of God, the long-looked-for morning will soon dawn. The need of the world calls for it. The justice of eternal right demands it. A thousand witnesses of divine prophecy and specific fulfillment in earth and sea and air and sky, in the physical and the political world, in the social and the religious world, proclaim, in a swelling volume of thundering tone, that Christ the King is coming soon. Are you ready?
Then, child of God, He “shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory.” Phil. 3:21.
Then shall you be like Him, for you “shall see Him even as He is.” 1 John 3:1-3. “Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold a land that reacheth afar.” Isa. 33:17. “He who testifieth these things saith, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus.” Rev. 22:20.
