“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:26 (KJV)
Beloved, this verse is often quoted on its own, as a promise that anything we hope for can happen. It is a powerful promise. But it means even more when you see the conversation it came from.
A rich young man walks away
Earlier in Matthew 19, a young man comes to Jesus and asks, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” (verse 16). He has kept the commandments since he was young. Jesus tells him to sell what he has, give to the poor, and follow Him.
“But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions” (verse 22).
Then Jesus turns to His disciples: “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” (verse 24). You may have heard that the “eye of a needle” was a small gate in Jerusalem. There is no good evidence for that. Jesus was using a picture that was meant to sound impossible: the largest animal people knew, and the smallest opening they could imagine.
“Who then can be saved?”
The disciples were stunned. “When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?” (verse 25). In their world, wealth was often seen as a sign of God’s blessing. If even this man could not get in, what hope was there for anyone?
That is the question Jesus answers. He looks at them, and says: “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
So the first thing this verse tells us is about salvation. No one earns their way into God’s kingdom, rich or poor, religious or not. On our own, it cannot be done. But God can do what we cannot. He changes hearts, loosens the grip of the things we hold too tightly, and brings us home.
The same God, all through Scripture
Jesus was saying something God’s people had heard before. When Sarah laughed at the promise of a son in her old age, the Lord asked, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14). The prophet Jeremiah prayed, “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee” (Jeremiah 32:17). And when the angel told Mary she would carry the Son of God, he said, “For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).
In each of these stories, the impossible thing was something God Himself had promised. That is worth holding on to. This verse is not a guarantee that every plan we make will work out. It is a promise that nothing God has said He will do is beyond Him.
When your situation looks closed
Perhaps you are looking at something today that you have quietly decided cannot change: a marriage, a diagnosis, a debt, a child who has walked away, a habit you cannot seem to break, your own heart. Matthew 19:26 does not ask you to pretend it is easy. Jesus agreed with His disciples that, for people, it is impossible. He simply pointed them to Someone else.
Some ways to sit with this verse this week:
- Read Matthew 19:16–30 in one go, so you see the whole conversation.
- Write down the one thing you have labelled “impossible”. Under it, write Matthew 19:26.
- Ask honestly: am I holding something as tightly as the young man held his possessions? What would it look like to open my hand?
- Read Genesis 18:14, Jeremiah 32:17 and Luke 1:37 and notice what God had promised in each story.
A prayer
Lord Jesus, You know the things in my life that look impossible to me. I confess that I cannot change my own heart or fix everything I carry. But with You, all things are possible. Loosen my grip on what I hold too tightly. Do in me and through me what only You can do, and help me to trust You while I wait. Amen.
Wear the verse
We printed Matthew 19:26 on a new all-over print tee: a deep night sky full of stars, a shooting star, and the word IMPOSSIBLE with its first two letters struck through so that it reads POSSIBLE. It comes as a women’s tee and a men’s tee.
Read next: They That Wait Upon the LORD: Isaiah 40:31
