What was Jesus talking about when He said knock and it shall be opened unto you How do you knock?

Answer 1

Prayer is the way to 'knock'. Matthew Henry in his commentary explains it like this:

Prayer is the appointed means for obtaining what we need. Pray; pray often; make a business of prayer, and be serious and earnest in it. Ask, as a beggar asks alms. Ask, as a traveller asks the way. Seek, as for a thing of value that we have lost; or as the merchantman that seeks goodly pearls. Knock, as he that desires to enter into the house knocks at the door. Sin has shut and barred the door against us; by prayer we knock.

Answer 2

I John 5:14 "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:"

Just as this verse does, the phrase "knock, and it shall be opened unto you" underscores God's unwavering reliability when we ask according to His will.

Although different from our culture (in the East, you don't knock on the door; you stand at the gate and call the person's name), the expected result of knocking at someone's door is that it will be opened.

The sections containing the phrase "knock, and it shall be opened unto you" in Matthew 7, and Luke 11 reassure us that God does not disappoint when fulfilling His promises to us.

Luke 11:9-10 "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

Further illustrations emphasize that God provides as promised with no possibility of a harmful substitution. In seeking a gift God guarantees, there's no possibility of receiving a counterfeit.

Luke 11:11-13 "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

In believing this section of scripture, we are assured that the holy spirit is a gift God desires to give us and that we can receive it without fear.

Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."