The final baraisa of Pirkei Avos (chapter 6, mishnah 11) states: "Kol mah shebara HaKadosh Baruch Hu be'olamo, lo bara ela lichvodo" - everything that the Holy One, Blessed is He, created in His world, He created only for His honor and His glory.
The previous mishnah taught that there are certain things that have a special connection to Hashem, a connection of particular affection. This baraisa comes to clarify that the intention is not that only those things are for the honor of Heaven: everything that Hashem created, the entire universe and all it contains, down to its last detail, has a specific purpose - to reveal the honor of Heaven and to make Hashem's glory known.
This is our purpose, and this is the purpose of all humanity and of all creation. Whoever wishes to know what he is meant to accomplish in his world - this is it, and everything else rests upon it. The path to achieving this purpose runs through love of Hashem and sanctification of His name, and ultimately the bond between a person and his Creator blossoms into a revelation of the honor of Heaven in the most exalted way.
The first verse the baraisa brings:
"Kol hanikra vishmi velichvodi berasiv yetzartiv af asisiv" - everything that was created and is called by the name of Hashem was created for His honor. The verse uses three expressions of making:
"Berasiv" - an expression of creation, bringing something into being out of nothing.
"Yetzartiv" - shaping and forming out of something that already exists.
"Asisiv" - completing and finishing.
The point common to all three is one: everything is done "for My honor," for the honor of Hashem.
According to the commentary Me'am Lo'ez, the verse contains a division into two. "Kol hanikra vishmi" - these are the good things, to which Hashem's name is already attached; and in contrast, "velichvodi berasiv yetzartiv af asisiv" - all the rest of creation, which was likewise created, formed and made for the honor of Hashem. The reason for this division lies in the additional verse that the baraisa sees fit to bring.
The second verse:
"Hashem yimloch le'olam va'ed". How does this verse teach about the honor of the Holy One, Blessed is He? The matter is this: everything called by Hashem's name expresses His honor here and now; but the existence of evil, and all the events that appear to stand against the honor of Heaven - how are they too part of creation, if everything was created for the honor of Heaven and they seemingly do not reveal it?
The answer is that at this moment a person does not see how these things fit with the ultimate purpose, but in the end he will see it. In the end of days, at the resurrection of the dead and in the World to Come, "Hashem yimloch le'olam va'ed" will be fulfilled - Hashem alone will reign forever, and there will no longer be anything, no evil whatsoever, that dilutes that kingship or obscures it. At that time it will be revealed how all the other things too were created, formed and completed for the sake of the honor of Heaven. May it be His will that we merit to see this speedily, but in the meantime we must know it already now: everything that the Holy One, Blessed is He, created, He created for His sake, for the honor of Hashem.
It is worth noting that this is the baraisa that closes the chapter on the acquisition of Torah, and nevertheless it does not deal with Torah itself. The baraisa teaches that even Torah, if one may say so, is a means toward the goal, and the goal is the honor of Heaven. A person's task is to be one who reveals the honor of Heaven: to make Hashem's glory known through connecting to Him and understanding Him, and to be like "a walking, speaking sanctuary of God," bound to Hashem's will and fulfilling it. But one must remember that the banner a person raises is ultimately the honor of Heaven - to bring the honor of the Holy One, Blessed is He, into this world, for our sake and for His.
Conclusion of the Tractate:
With siyata d'Shmaya we now complete Maseches Avos. According to many versions it is customary to read the following mishnah at its close, a mishnah whose actual source is in Maseches Makkos: "Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya omer: ratzah HaKadosh Baruch Hu lezakos es Yisrael, lefichach hirbah lahem Torah u'mitzvos" - Hashem wished to grant merit to the Jewish people, and therefore He gave them an abundance of Torah and mitzvos to learn and to fulfill. "Shene'emar: Hashem chafetz lema'an tzidko, yagdil Torah v'ya'adir" - Hashem desires, for the sake of righteousness, to make the Torah great and glorious.
In summary: In this beraisa we learned that everything the Holy One created in His world was created only for His glory, as the verse states explicitly, "All that is called by My Name, for My glory I created it, I formed it, indeed I made it"; that even those things which appear to stand against the honor of Heaven will be included in this purpose in the time to come, as the verse teaches, "Hashem will reign forever and ever"; and that even the Torah itself is a means toward the ultimate purpose of revealing the glory of Heaven.
From here on, with Hashem's help, it is for us to take all the great lessons we have received from Maseches Avos and from the chapter of Kinyan Torah, and to strive with all our ability to fulfill them and to connect to Hashem and to His Torah. And from here we move on, with Hashem's help, to the next tractate: Maseches Horayos.