What are demons, what fate awaits them, and does their damnation fit their crimes? Most Christians, ranging from Roman Catholics all the way to evangelical protestants, have 
argued against it. However, in the Book of Enoch (often called 1 Enoch), we find a story in which the main character (Enoch himself) actually intercedes on behalf of fallen angels before God. Why does he do that, and what is the outcome? And what meaning could we draw from this story today as we wrestle with modern demons of our own?
What is 1 Enoch?
1 Enoch is a Jewish text that predates the birth of Jesus. Although most Christian and Jewish groups don’t consider it part of their canon, it had a profound impact on both.
Consider Jude 1:14-15:
It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “See, the Lord is coming with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
Compare that with 1 Enoch 1:9 (translated by E. Isaac):
Behold, he will arrive with ten million of the holy ones in order to execute judgment upon all. He will destroy the wicked ones and censure all flesh on account of everything they have done, that which the sinners and the wicked ones committed against him.
Many major players in the development of early Christianity considered 1 Enoch to be worth engaging with; consider what Tertullian wrote:
I am aware that the Scripture of Enoch, which has assigned this order (of action) to angels, is not received by some, because it is not admitted into the Jewish canon either…
If (Noah) had not had this (conservative power) by so short a route, there would (still) be this (consideration) to warrant our assertion of (the genuineness of) this Scripture: he could equally have renewed it, under the Spirit’s inspiration, after it had been destroyed by the violence of the deluge, as, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian storming of it, every document of the Jewish literature is generally agreed to have been restored through Ezra.
But since Enoch in the same Scripture has preached likewise concerning the Lord, nothing at all must be rejected by us which pertains to us; and we read that “every Scripture suitable for edification is divinely inspired.”
Clearly, 1 Enoch was an important text, not only in the Jewish context in which it was developed, but for early Christianity. So what does it say? Continue below to keep reading!