What does the name Smyrna mean, and how is myrrh used as an illustration?
The name Smyrna means myrrh. Myrrh does not exude its fragrance until it is crushed. This illustrates the church at Smyrna: as persecution crushed those believers, they exuded a stronger testimony, and the more Satan persecuted the early church, the more it thrived. Thus suffering produced witness rather than destruction.
Les teaches that Smyrna actually meant just like myrrh, and the key illustration is that myrrh does not exude its fragrance until it is crushed. This is exactly what the church at Smyrna was indicating: the more persecution crushed those believers, the more they exuded their testimony. He explains that Satan had to give up persecuting the early church because he could not get ahead of it—the more he persecuted, the more it thrived. Then he took the office attack, joining them, and Christianity began to slide. In Revelation chapter 2, the letter to Smyrna in verse 9 says, “I know thy works,” and the next word is tribulation.