RICH MEN AND HEAVEN – CAMELS AND NEEDLES

RICH MEN AND HEAVEN – CAMELS AND NEEDLES

“And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God..….”But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”  Matt. 19:24, 26

 

These words of our Lord are capable of two interpretations. They may mean that God is able to do what men cannot. Or they may mean that men are able to do, with God, what they cannot do by co-operation with other men. There is really no doubt that the second is the true interpretation of their meaning. The first is true, and so evidently true that the maxim of it under the circumstances would have solved no difficulty. The second exactly answered the difficulty in the minds of those who were perplexed. If a wealthy man, whose power with his fellowmen is always great, cannot procure the right of entry into the Kingdom of God, then what chance is there for any man? That was the problem. Our Lord's answer immediately revealed the profound mistake which created the problem. A man does not enter into the Kingdom of God by acting with men. He must act with God. When directly he does so, the impossible becomes possible. And that is not only a profound truth; it is the profoundest of all truths in this regard. Man is forever attempting personally and socially to enter into the Kingdom of God by endeavours with men, and he never succeeds. With God, the thing is possible. If the young ruler had shut out all thought of men and acted alone with God, he would have followed Christ at all costs. All those insuperable difficulties of desire, inclination, and fear, are overcome by God within the soul, when man yields himself completely to God in submission and faith. That which a man cannot do alone or acting with men, he can do when he acts with God.