Here is spirituality on the one hand; here is the kingdom of God. Opposed to that, intensely, is materialism and substance and earthly riches. Do we understand that? It is virtually impossible for somebody with riches to enter into the kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ uses this illustration.
Camels are very argumentative in their behaviour. They are also said to be unintelligent. How like us when it comes to God! There are people who are seldom quarrelsome, and yet they argue with God. There are people who are intelligent by the reckoning of this world, and yet they behave so foolishly in matters of the soul. Here is God who will change us and take us to heaven. We are in such need, and yet we refuse his terms. We must be so careful in attitude to God.
We must enter the kingdom of heaven. It is where God’s people are right now. It also describes eternal life. If we do not enter the kingdom of heaven while we are still in this world, we will not enter it in the next. The rich young ruler thought that eternal life was within his grasp. He only had to ask Christ a question and get the answer, and then carry out the simple instruction. He was willing to do anything, he thought. But he did not know himself. He was like an obstinate camel and now he had to go through this needle’s eye. He could not go through without leaving his riches behind, shrinking himself down, as it were, to a size that would fit through this narrow aperture. The love of riches in him would make him turn this way and that to avoid entering the kingdom of heaven. To one such as this rich young ruler, the kingdom has an entrance which seems impossibly small to fit through. ‘Surely you don’t expect me to go through that! I could take nothing with me through that tiny entrance.’ That is right. That is the choice you face. You cannot enter the kingdom with the baggage of sin.
But because we are all sinners, the truth is that we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven by ourselves. He must secure our entrance into the kingdom. He does everything necessary on our behalf to allow us to enter heaven. He went to Calvary. He suffered the eternal weight of punishment that we deserved, that would keep us out of heaven on our behalf, and he goes through the eye of the needle for us. In other words, he does everything that is required to enter heaven on our behalf and we must trust in him and in him alone. But riches! They are such a hindrance.