Since the Bible does not specifically mention cancer by name, we need to study what God has revealed about His will and His character, because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

Genesis 1-3 reveals God’s intentions when He made the world and when He made us. He saw all that He made, and it was very good. He made the man and woman in His own image. And He gave them to eat of the tree of life, and live forever. Cancer fights against the very things God showed us He wanted for mankind. It does what Satan did once He came onto the scene—steals, kills, and destroys. And we know that, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Cancer is a work of the devil that Jesus intends to destroy!

But we still see suffering today and cancer not getting healed, even when God’s people pray sometimes. Why? We are not yet what we will be (1 John 3:2), and “…the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). But God’s plan has been revealed: He will create a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1), with a tree of life once again (Rev. 22:2), and there will be no more sickness anymore (Rev. 21:4). God will restore what He intended from the beginning. 

Until then, we can expect Jesus will continue His work that He began to do. He walked the earth defeating the works of the evil one, including sickness. And just as He is rescuing individuals from darkness and restoring them a day at a time to what they were intended to be in spirit, ever since the cross and empty tomb, so He still is rescuing people and making them physically whole as a foretaste of His kingdom. Do we understand why He allows suffering in some cases and removes it in others? Not fully, but we know that He is working all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), and He is conforming His children to the image of Christ—and that’s what we need more than anything in the world.