A wealthy young man walked away from Jesus sad, and the disciples were stunned. If even he couldn't make it, who could? Jesus' answer moves the whole question from human effort to God's power.
One simple fact
This exchange is recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels. Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, and Luke 18:27 each end the story of the rich man with Jesus saying that what is impossible for people is possible with God. (Read Mark 10:27 and Luke 18:27, NIV)
Jesus' words
"Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
— Matthew 19:23–26 (NIV, Bible Gateway)
See the daily quote: With God all things are possible.
Historical reference: an impossible picture
Jesus' camel-and-needle image matches a Jewish way of describing the impossible. The Babylonian Talmud, compiled centuries later in Babylon, has Rava say that dreams only show what is in a person's mind, because no one is ever shown "a golden palm tree" or "an elephant going through the eye of a needle" in a dream (Berakhot 55b, Sefaria). Scholars place Matthew around 70–90 CE and this Talmud passage around 450–550 CE, so it isn't something Jesus quoted. It does show the picture was a known Semitic expression for something that simply cannot happen (Matthew 19:24 and Berakhot 55b compared, intertextual.bible).
That's the point. Jesus wasn't describing a narrow city gate a camel could squeeze through with effort. He chose a picture of the truly impossible, and then said God does it anyway.
A firsthand account: "It is not your time"
Charles T, whose account is published by the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, had a heart attack at work with no one else in the building. He wrote that he died twice that night and saw Jesus:
"I saw Jesus riding the prettiest white horse I have ever seen. I couldn't take my eyes off of HIM... HE looked over at us, held out HIS left hand, and said 'It is not your time.'"
The second time, he reported, Jesus said, "I told you that your time is not yet come." Meanwhile, he wrote, his wife was at home 35 miles away with no idea what was happening, "but something told her to get down on her knees and pray for me like she had never prayed for me before." She called his work, he answered, and he later had heart surgery and came through it. "If it weren't for GOD's mercy and grace," he wrote, "I wouldn't be here today." (Charles T NDE 8594, NDERF)
This is the experiencer's own report, shared as he gave it.
Take it with you
Whatever feels impossible today, whether a heart that won't change, a habit, a relationship, or a diagnosis, Jesus' words still stand: with God all things are possible.