Matthew 19:21" If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven. And come, follow Me."

In Matthew 19:16-30 is the story of the Rich Young Ruler, who came to Jesus and asked what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments. The man asked which commandments. Should he keep the ceremonial, moral, written commandments? The oral laws of the elders, the oral law of God, or both? The commandments Jesus mentioned to the man were the moral commandments. They were commandments about how we treat each other.

The Rich Young Ruler was raised in all these laws and followed them to the letter. He told Jesus he had kept all these commandments since his youth. He then asked Jesus what he still lacked? He wanted to know if there was anything else required of him to have eternal life. Jesus told him, " If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven. And come, follow Me." (Matthew 19: 21) When the young man heard this, he went away very sad, because he had a lot of possessions. This man could live the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law. He could not give up everything for Jesus. He could not make Jesus the highest priority in his life.

Jesus then said to his disciples, " Truly I say to you that a rich man will with great difficulty enter into the kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to 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." (Matthew 19:23) People have tried to explain this text in various way. They have tried to make it look as if Jesus is suggesting something that is hard, but possible to do. I don't believe this text means anything other that exactly what it says. The reason I don't is because of the following two texts.

"When His disciples heard, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus looked on them and said to them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew19:25-26

The disciples were exceeding amazed. They questioned who could be saved. If Jesus was talking about something that was hard, but possible, the disciples would not have asked such a question. Jesus answers them by telling them it is impossible for men to do. Only God could do such a thing.

Peter had been listening to all of this and his mind started to work out the math. He thought about how the disciples left everything and had been followed Jesus for quite a while. So he said to Jesus, "Behold, we have forsaken all and have followed You. Therefore what shall we have?" (Matthew19:27)

Jesus replied by saying, "Truly I say to you that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matthew19:28) When I look at the punctuation of this text, and look up the word, "regeneration", I have to believe Jesus is talking about the new earth. Regeneration means rebirth, renovation, or restoration. I don't want us to get hung up on who is going to sit on the twelve thrones. Obviously Jesus couldn't have been referring to just the disciples because he knew Judas wouldn't be there, so that would leave one throne empty. I think when we start worrying about who gets to be on the thrones we become as bad as Peter, wondering what reward we're going to get in the new earth.

Jesus continued on to say, " And everyone who left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many who are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." (Matthew19:29-30) Those who are willing to give up anything that prevents them from following their Saviour and having a close walk with Him are the ones who will inherit everlasting life. The last line of Jesus' statement is explained in the parable that follows this text. We will be looking at that next.