Baptized Dragonslayer Matthew 3:13-16

13 Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” 15 But Jesus answer- ing said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him. 16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

Matthew 3:13-17 (NASB)

When folks get baptized nowadays, in your typical church, it usually entails the following:

The presence of friends and family looking on.
A livestream video feed via Facebook of the baptism.
A ton of Instagram pics of the event.
A post-baptism dysfunctional family luncheon at Golden Corral celebrating the baptizee’s cessation from being a drunken, tenth-degree horndog, who used to take notes during Keeping Up With Kardashians.
Which is then followed by fifteen-years of the ‘new believer’ backsliding through lackluster discipleship that ends with them dying later on in life and finally getting into heaven by the skin of their teeth.

Jesus’ baptism was a wee bit different.

When Jesus, at the ripe young age of thirty, was baptized he assumed the masculine role/responsibility of Dragonslayer and Temple Builder.

Oh, yes, ladies and gents, this was an official declaration that Satan’s doomed and the Church Jesus is going to build and leave behind is going to ransack the Gates of Hell.

His baptism was a formal announcement of War.

Here’s what commenced after Jesus’ epic initiation into the Jordan’s baptismal waters.

Number One. Jesus formally left being mommy and daddy’s boy. I’m sure they were proud of their special son, but the relationship of Him being beholden to their familial hopes and dreams and his job as a carpenter was officially over.

Yep, from here on out it wasn’t what mommy wanted that flicked His switch, it was what His heavenly Father desired that carved out His fresh, going forward, glidepath.

Can that be said about your life since your baptism? That you, too, have ceased to follow others, even well meaning family and friends, and are now hot on the trail of the will of The Father?

Number Two. Jesus ceased to be just a ‘good guy.’ Prior to Jesus’s baptism He was a sinless nice young man. No one hated him. No one wanted to throw him off a cliff. No one wanted to beat his flesh off his body and crucify him but that all was about to change.

In addition, I bet no one really saw ‘His potential’ to be The Answer to humanity’s sin-cursed condition. No one saw him being The Chief Exorcist of Devils. No one knew he was The Foundation Stone of the global Church destined to raze hell. Sure His family heard via Zacharias, at Jesus birth, that He was born to rock Satan’s strongholds (Luke 1) but they had obviously forgotten about it because when he launched out, after His baptism, into His earthly ministry, his family thought he’d lost his ever-lovin’ mind. Checkout Mark 3:20,21 if you don’t believe me.

Indeed, the formerly nice Jewish boy was now a rebellious young man on a mission from God to destroy all things odious to His Father and that which enslaved His elect.

Number Three. The baptism formally moved him into the masculine role of Apocalyptic Warrior. His baptism was a cutting off of his old life as a sweet teenager and twentysomething, who probably won all kinds of awards in High School, to His new role as exorcist, miracle worker, truth teller, Pharisee rebuker, dragonslayer, temple-builder, and sacrificial offering for mankind’s sins. And folks, all the aforementioned, which officially commenced when He rose out of the muddy Jordan River, is masculine to the core. That’s a tough act to follow for dainty daisy 21st-century quasi-male Christians.

His baptism propelled into the masculine leadership role of provider, protector, hunter, and hero. He wasn’t just going to tell nice stories. He was now going to kick major demonic backside and then crush the devil himself via his death, burial and resurrection.

And that all got rollin’ right after his baptism.

* From Doug’s #1 Amazon bestseller,

‘If Masculinity is ‘Toxic’, Call Jesus Radioactive’.

Available on Amazon.com.