Fear of the unknown and fear of change are both common ideas and together cover a broad spectrum of the fears we tend to have in natural life. In a sense, they also lie behind the spiritual meaning when people are described as being "afraid" in the Bible. In Swedenborg's works, people are described as being afraid when a more higher spiritual state comes into communication with a lower, more external state and demonstrates the need for the lower state to be reformed and elevated. That's the case with the shepherds in the Christmas story, reacting first with fear when angels came to tell them of a whole new spiritual era. It's true of Moses at the burning bush, Jacob after the vision of the ladder, even the disciples seeing Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee – all cases in which a higher state was reaching out to them and asking them to embrace a new phase of spiritual life. This also holds in a more negative sense, when states of evil and false thinking come into contact with spiritual things and feel threatened by the revelation of their own wretchedness. The Bible also speaks frequently of people fearing God, a related but different idea which is covered elsewhere.

In Genesis 3:10; 18:15, Exodus 3:6, being afraid signifies apprehension lest one offend or be hurt. (Arcana Coelestia 223-224, Arcana Coelestia 2215, Arcana Coelestia 6849)

223. Since the Lord's face is mercy, peace, and all good, it is clear that He always looks with mercy on anybody, and never turns His face away from anybody. Instead it is man, when governed by evil, who turns away his face, as the Lord has said through Isaiah,

Your iniquities are what separate you from your God, and your sins what cause His face ¹ to hide from you. Isaiah 59:2.

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