As 2025 draws to a close, I’m reminded that there is still so much to do in the Asia-Pacific Rim to fulfill the Revelation 7:9 vision of a multitude from every nation, tribe and tongue worshipping around the throne.
We’ve seen amazing growth in the region, and we celebrate the growth, but we know there is more needed to join the multitude.
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From last October to this October, 151,300 people heard the gospel through International Mission Board missionaries, and 4,828 people made professions of faith. Sixty-nine new groups and churches formed.
However, the number of people who still have not heard is sobering.
The tension between progress and unfinished work isn’t new. Joshua knew it well, and we, as God’s people, have always lived in it.
Notice a powerful reminder that’s given to us in Joshua 13:1: “Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the LORD said to him, ‘You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.’”
What ‘remains’
Think about this for a second. “Remains” means that there were some things that have been accomplished up to his point in his life.
So, what were they?
Israel’s major conquests were complete. They included: crossing the Jordan, taking Jericho, defeating Ai, conquering the coalition led by Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem and overpowering Jabin of Hazor and allies.
In Joshua 11:23 we learn that “Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.”
Thirty-one kings were defeated by the Israelites. In Joshua 12:7-24 we find a detailed list of the kings defeated on both sides of the Jordan.
The land was now under Israelite control.
“So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled,” Joshua 21:43-45.
It seemed that if anyone deserved to take a break and rest in his accomplishments, it was Joshua. He had led faithfully, endured trials and seen God’s mighty hand again and again. And yet, in the middle of his old age, God comes with a sobering word, ”Joshua, there remains much land to possess.”
‘Victory and unfinished calling’
Even in his old age, God reminded Joshua, “Well done, but don’t stop. The mission isn’t finished.”
Like Joshua, we stand between victory and unfinished calling. In the Asia-Pacific Rim, nearly 100 million evangelicals testify to God’s grace in this part of the world, yet there are still 1,140 unreached people groups, 504 unengaged groups and 2.2 billion people who are spiritually lost.
Joshua 13:1 reminds us of three things:
1. Don’t mistake partial success for completed success.
It’s right for us to rejoice in what God has done. But our calling is not to stop short where God’s calling says pursue further. There is still land, still peoples, still places where Christ is not named and where comprehensive strategies have not been developed.
2. Divine perspective oftentimes demands reassessment.
By almost any earthly metric, the mission could have felt complete to Joshua. But God’s perspective pierced through the sense of completion, “There remains much land.” What looked “done” from Israel’s side was “unfinished” in the eyes of the Lord. Divine perspective demanded a reassessment of progress and priority.
3, God defines what “unfinished” means, not us.
Completion is defined by whether God’s purposes have reached their fullness.
In Joshua’s case, it was not just military victory, but the full possession and inheritance of the land. We see this principle elsewhere in Scripture. Jesus’ words in John 4:34 remind us that the work is not complete until the Father’s will is accomplished, ”My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.”
Paul echoes this perspective in Philippians 1:6, assuring believers that ”He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” In other words, it is God who defines both the scope and the endpoint of His mission. For missionaries today, that means our sense of progress, engagement, new believers, growing churches or expanding networks must always be measured against God’s greater vision. This vision is that the gospel is proclaimed to every tribe, tongue, people and nation (Revelation 7:9). Until then, in God’s eyes, the task remains unfinished.
So where are we tempted to settle? Where have we said, “this is enough,” when God is still saying, “There remains much land to possess”?
My wife, Sarah, and I are praying that, like Joshua, IMB missionaries in the Asia-Pacific Rim would press forward. I pray we would be faithful to the end — until the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Greg Mann and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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