659. Why are we not blamed for any evil thing we think about? Because we have been created with the ability to understand and think about both what is good and what is evil. What is good comes from the Lord and what is evil comes from hell. We are in the middle. We have the capacity to choose one or the other, because we have free choice in spiritual matters (see the treatment of this topic in its own chapter [463-508]). Because we have the capacity to choose in freedom, we are able either to will something or else not to will it. What we choose to will is taken on by our will and becomes part of it; what we choose not to will is not taken on and does not become part of our will.

[2] All the evils that we have a tendency toward from the day we are born are a lasting part of the will of our earthly self. When we allow ourselves to be influenced by these evils they flow into our thinking. Good things along with truths flow down into our thinking from above, from the Lord. In our thoughts the two are weighed against each other, like weights on a pair of scales. If we choose evil things, they are received by our old will and become part of it. If we choose good things along with truths, a new will and a new intellect are formed by the Lord above our old will and our old intellect. Gradually over time, the Lord uses the truths that are in our new intellect to implant new forms of good on that higher level. Through these truths he also gains control over the evils that are below, moves them out of the way, and sets everything in order.

[3] This also makes it clear that our thought process purifies and excretes, so to speak, the evils that are resident in us from our parents. If we were assigned spiritual blame, then, for the evils we think about and consider, our reformation and regeneration could never take place.

730. The Holy Supper is similar to a covenant; after the terms are agreed upon, it is signed and sealed. The Lord's blood is the covenant, as he himself teaches. When he lifted the cup and gave it to the disciples he said, "Drink from it, all of you; this is my blood of the new testament" (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20). The new testament means the new covenant. Therefore the Word that was written through the prophets before the Lord's Coming is called the Old Testament or Old Covenant, and the Word written through the Gospel writers and apostles after his Coming is called the New Testament or New Covenant. On the point that blood and also the wine in the Holy Supper mean the divine truth contained in the Word, see the fifth and seventh sections under the second heading of this chapter [706, 708]. The covenant that the Lord has made with us and we have made with the Lord is the Word. The Lord came down as the Word, that is, divine truth. Because his blood is divine truth, the blood in the Israelite church (a church that represented the Christian church to come) was called the blood of the covenant (Exodus 24:8; Zechariah 9:11), and the Lord was called a covenant to the people (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalms 111:9).

[2] According to the orderly sequence practiced in the world, a signature is absolutely necessary in order to finalize an agreement - a step that comes only after the terms have been worked out. What good is a will or a bequest without a signature? What good is a judicial statement without a signed opinion at the bottom to confirm the judgment? What good is it to be granted national authority if you have no charter to prove it? What good is a verbal offer of a promotion if there is no accompanying letter of confirmation? What good is taking possession of a house if you have no signed agreement of sale with the previous owner? What good does it do to run toward a goal or race for a finish line and a prize if there is no goal or finish line where the prizes will be handed out, and the official has given you no firm indication that he will make good on his promises if you win?

These last analogies have been added solely for the sake of illustration, however, so that everyone including the uneducated will perceive that taking the Holy Supper is like receiving [God's] signature, seal, certificate, or evidentiary letter to prove even to the angels that we have been adopted as God's children; and also that taking the Holy Supper is like being given the key to our home in heaven where we will live forever.