I had a friend who has since passed on who was desperately sick at one point. I told him that he must read the Bible. He did so. Upon finishing he asked me what the goal was. I had never thought of the Bible as having a goal and was wrong for not doing so. The answer I gave him fell short of what I would say today. I think his question ultimately has to do with the plot of the Bible.
As God’s crowning act of creation, He created man and placed him in His garden to rule the creation. This is Genesis 1-3. Adam was not created in the image of God; he was created as the image of God. The purpose of an image in the historical context of the Bible is to rule. At that point in history the authority structure of the universe looked as follows: God on top, then man, then all creation on the bottom. Part of “all creation” includes the angelic realm. The result of this structure is perfect peace and life. In Genesis 3 there was a rebellion against this created order of authority. Part of the angelic realm, Satan, convinced man to break the order of authority. Therefore, levels two and three got together and tried to be number one. The result of this rebellion is chaos and death. God’s ultimate solution was to combine levels one and two in the person of Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man. The ultimate outcome of this solution is the restoration and continuation of perfect peace and life as recorded in the last three chapters of the Bible, Revelation 19-22.
Therefore, the ultimate goal of the Bible is that mankind, in the person of Jesus Christ will rule the creation in peace and life just as God said in the beginning.
The essence of plot is conflict. The ultimate conflict in the Bible is demonic, Satanic. Level three got combined with level two. This is seen nowhere as clearly as Matthew 16:21-23 where Peter is labeled Satanic by Jesus for thinking human thoughts instead of God’s thoughts. In other words, mankind, apart from God, is demonic.
In conclusion, when all Satanic/human rebellion is dealt with completely all conflict will be gone. This is the goal of the Bible.
Why the wait? Why doesn’t God simply destroy all evil right now? Many voice this as a desire. In reply I typically ask them that if God destroyed all evil right now where would they be? Were they assuming they were part of the solution and not part of the problem? Egocentric thinking like that is a result of the original rebellion and desire to be level number one. God will ultimately restore levels one, two, and three to their original positions, but until then be glad for the wait, the delay, for thereby many become saved.