After losing two dear friends, we turn to Scripture—and Steve Boyls’ extraordinary testimony—to explore what the Bible reveals about Heaven, death, resurrection and the eternal hope we have in Jesus Christ
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In recent days, Heaven has felt especially close to our hearts.
We recently lost two very dear friends, Ron and Jerry. We loved them, we miss them, and yes, we cried. No matter how strong our faith may be, death has a way of making questions we sometimes consider from a distance suddenly intensely personal. Where are the people we love now? What happens when we take our final breath? Is Heaven truly as real as the world we see around us? Will we see those we love again?
No matter how strong our faith may be, death has a way of making questions we sometimes consider from a distance suddenly intensely personal. Where are the people we love now? What happens when we take our final breath? Is Heaven truly as real as the world we see around us? Will we see those we love again?
For Christians, our hope ultimately does not rest on a near-death experience, however extraordinary or compelling it may be. Our hope rests in Jesus Christ, His resurrection, and the promises of God’s Word. Yet during this season of grief, we have found ourselves remembering the remarkable testimony of our friend and author Steve Boyls, whose account of what he says he experienced while critically ill has now been heard by millions of people.
Steve has expressed his conviction in unforgettable words:
“Heaven is real. Heaven’s more real than this earth.”
Those words have taken on new meaning for us since saying goodbye to Ron and Jerry.
Steve’s testimony does not replace Scripture, and we would never suggest that any person’s near-death account should become the foundation for Christian doctrine. Yet hearing him describe the beauty, love, peace and reality of the place he believes he visited has brought us comfort in our own grief—and, more importantly, has drawn us back again to what the Bible itself tells us about Heaven, death, resurrection and the eternal hope believers have in Christ.
And apparently, we are far from alone in asking these questions.
A Testimony Now Reaching More Than 2 Million People
Pastor Vlad Savchuk’s interview with Steve and his wife, Dr. Kathy Boyls, “He Spent 21 Days in Heaven. What He Saw Will Shock You,” has surpassed 2 million views on YouTube. In the interview, Steve recounts what he says happened during approximately 21 days in a medically induced coma, while Kathy describes the very different battle she was fighting at the same time: praying and believing for her husband’s recovery as his medical condition became increasingly critical.
Steve’s medical ordeal was severe. He spent 45 days on a ventilator and three and a half months in the hospital, with approximately the first 21 days spent in a medically induced coma. While his body lay unconscious and critically ill, Steve says he experienced something entirely different—an extraordinary journey that eventually became the heart of the book I’ve Been to Heaven, which I wrote with Steve and Kathy.
Steve says an angel who identified himself as Marzuka told him he had come to take him to Heaven “for a little while” as his body healed. He remembers traveling through an immense expanse of stars, galaxies and nebulae before arriving in a place of extraordinary beauty, brilliant colors and overwhelming peace. He also describes encounters with loved ones who had died and, most importantly to him, an encounter with Jesus.
These are Steve’s recollections and testimony. But they raise a larger question that matters far beyond any one person’s experience:
What does the Bible actually tell us about Heaven?
Discover I’ve Been to Heaven
Experience the remarkable true story of Steve and Dr. Kathy Boyls—a journey through a life-threatening medical crisis, extraordinary faith, answered prayer and Steve’s unforgettable account of Heaven.| Get your copy of I’ve Been to Heaven on Amazon →
Jesus Said He Was Preparing a Place for Us
One of the most comforting descriptions of what awaits believers comes not from a modern testimony, but from Jesus Himself.
On the night before His crucifixion, knowing that His disciples were about to experience grief, fear and confusion, Jesus told them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” He spoke of His Father’s house and told them He was going to “prepare a place for you,” promising that He would come again and receive His followers to Himself so that they could be where He is (John 14:1–3).
Consider the tenderness of that promise. Jesus was speaking to people who were about to feel as though everything familiar had been torn away from them, yet He directed their attention beyond the immediate pain to an eternal reality they could not yet see. His answer to their coming grief was not to deny that suffering would come, but to assure them that separation would not be forever.
That promise means something different when you have stood beside a hospital bed, attended the funeral of someone you love, looked at an empty chair, or realized that someone whose voice you knew so well will no longer call you in this life. When we think about Ron and Jerry now, this is where our hearts return. We grieve because we loved them, and Christianity never asks us to pretend that separation does not hurt. But Scripture makes an important distinction: grief and hopelessness are not the same thing.
We Grieve—but Not Without Hope
The apostle Paul understood that grief and faith are not opposites. When he wrote to Christians who were mourning believers who had died, he did not tell them that followers of Christ should not grieve. Instead, he offered them a profoundly different way to grieve—not as those who have no hope.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, Paul anchors that hope in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Christ died and rose again, death is not the end of the believer’s story. Paul points his readers toward the resurrection and the extraordinary promise that those who belong to Christ will ultimately be gathered to Him. His words culminate in a promise that has comforted generations of grieving Christians: “And so we will be with the Lord forever.”
That promise feels especially precious when someone we love is no longer sitting across the table from us. Faith does not erase the ache of an empty chair or silence the memories that can suddenly bring tears. We can miss someone deeply and still believe God’s promises completely. We can wish for one more conversation, one more dinner together, one more embrace, one more opportunity to say, “I love you,” while holding onto the hope that, for those who are in Christ, death is a separation—but it is not the final chapter.
Paul expressed that confidence personally in Philippians 1:21–23. Facing the possibility of his own death, he wrote of his desire to depart this life and “be with Christ,” which he described as “better by far.” Those words reveal something essential about the Christian understanding of Heaven: our greatest hope is not simply a beautiful destination. It is a Person. It is being with Jesus.
Certainly, Scripture gives us breathtaking glimpses of what awaits God’s people, and the thought of seeing loved ones again brings enormous comfort. But at the center of Heaven is not the scenery, the gates, the streets or even the reunion we long for. At the center is Christ Himself—the One who conquered death and promised that those who belong to Him will be with Him forever.
And perhaps that is why one part of Steve Boyls’ extraordinary testimony has remained so deeply impressed upon him. Of all the wonders he says he experienced during those 21 days, it was not merely what Heaven looked like that changed him most profoundly.
It was his encounter with Jesus.
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“The Love Was So Overwhelming”
Among everything Steve remembers from his experience, his encounter with Jesus remains central. Steve says he entered a magnificent throne room and saw God the Father appearing as brilliant light, with Jesus beside Him. He recalls Jesus coming toward him and showing him two contrasting images of himself—one sick, weak and drained of color, reflecting the terrible condition of his body in the hospital, and another in which he appeared completely restored and vibrant. Pasted markdown
Yet Steve says the most unforgettable part of the encounter was not simply what he saw. It was what he experienced when Jesus embraced him.
Steve describes a depth of love, protection and joy that he still struggles to communicate adequately in human language. That experience became part of the reason he emerged from his medical crisis convinced that Heaven is real, that God’s love is greater than he had previously understood, and that his life had been spared for a purpose.
Steve’s experience remains his personal testimony, and Scripture remains our standard. Yet what is striking is that the biblical picture of eternity also places the presence of God—not merely the beauty or scenery of Heaven—at the center of our eternal hope.
And nowhere is that hope expressed more tenderly than near the end of Revelation.
A Place Where God Wipes Away Every Tear
Perhaps nowhere is the Christian hope of eternity expressed more beautifully than in Revelation 21:1–5, where the apostle John is given a breathtaking vision of a new heaven and a new earth, with the New Jerusalem coming down from God. Yet amid all the grandeur of that vision, one of its most powerful moments is remarkably intimate: God Himself draws near to His people and wipes away their tears.
Scripture tells us that a day is coming when “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,” because the brokenness of the former world will have passed away. Then comes the declaration from the One seated on the throne: “I am making everything new!”
For anyone who has stood beside a hospital bed, attended the funeral of someone they loved, or gone home afterward to a world that suddenly feels different without that person in it, these words carry extraordinary meaning. The Bible does not minimize the pain of death. Instead, it points us toward a future in which God Himself will finally remove everything that has caused His children to suffer.
That promise has become especially meaningful to us as we grieve the loss of our dear friends Ron and Jerry. We have shed tears because we loved them, and their families and friends know the emptiness that follows when someone who has been part of your life is suddenly no longer there. Yet Revelation reminds us that the tears we shed now are not the end of the story. For those whose hope is in Christ, we look toward a day when sorrow will give way to joy, separation to reunion, and death itself will be overcome forever.
And the biblical promise is even greater than the popular picture of Heaven as simply leaving this troubled world behind for a distant spiritual realm. The final chapters of Revelation reveal something far more magnificent: God dwelling with His people, creation restored, and all things made new. The story that began in Genesis with a world fractured by sin reaches its conclusion with redemption, restoration and the presence of God.
That is why Christians can face death with grief but not despair. We mourn because love is real and loss hurts, but we also hold onto the promise that death will not have the final word, suffering will not last forever, and the grave will not ultimately prevail.
Jesus Christ will.
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What Steve Says He Saw About the Warhorses of Heaven
There is another dimension of Steve’s testimony that is particularly intriguing for readers of Prophecy Investigators. Before his experience ended, Steve says he saw vast numbers of magnificent horses in Heaven. Later, he recalls Jesus asking whether he had seen His warhorses. When Steve answered that he had, he remembers Jesus telling him: “They’re preparing for battle.”
Steve asked when this battle would take place. According to his recollection, the answer was brief: “Very soon.”
Steve also says Jesus placed His hands on his shoulders and told him there was still work for him to do and that, when the time was right, he would understand what that work was. In the years since his recovery, Steve has come to believe that part of that assignment is simply to tell people what happened to him—to share his conviction that Heaven is real and that this earthly life is not the end. Pasted markdown
For students of biblical prophecy, the imagery naturally draws attention to Revelation 19, one of Scripture’s most dramatic descriptions of the return and victory of Jesus Christ. John writes that he saw Heaven standing open and before him a white horse, whose rider is called “Faithful and True.” The passage identifies Him as “the Word of God,” while the armies of Heaven follow Him on white horses. The vision culminates with Christ bearing the title “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:11–16).
The resemblance between that biblical imagery and what Steve says he saw is certainly intriguing. But this is also where discernment matters. Steve’s experience should not be used to establish doctrine, set a prophetic timetable, or declare that a particular end-times event must occur within a certain period. Scripture—not an individual experience—is the authority by which prophetic claims must ultimately be evaluated.
What we can say is that the imagery Steve describes has a recognizable biblical counterpart, and Revelation itself unmistakably portrays history moving toward the return, reign and ultimate victory of Jesus Christ. Pasted markdown
That distinction is important because biblical prophecy, rightly understood, is not given merely to frighten believers with visions of judgment, warfare and upheaval. It calls God’s people to faithfulness, discernment and readiness while pointing beyond the turmoil of history toward its ultimate conclusion: Jesus Christ reigns, evil is judged, death is defeated, and God dwells with His people.
Seen from that perspective, prophecy is ultimately a message of hope.
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Heaven Is More Than an Escape From This World
Discussions about Heaven often lead to questions Scripture does not answer in exhaustive detail. What will we look like? What exactly will we do? Will we recognize everyone? What will time feel like? What will the heavenly city actually look like? These are understandable questions, particularly when we are grieving someone we love, and Steve’s testimony offers his own fascinating perspective on some of them.
Yet Scripture continually directs our attention toward something even greater than the details we naturally want to know. Paul longed to depart and “be with Christ.” Jesus promised His followers that He was preparing a place for them and would receive them to Himself. Revelation ends not with humanity abandoned to death and chaos, but with God dwelling among His people and making all things new.
This is why the Christian message about Heaven is ultimately a message about Jesus. Heaven is precious not merely because suffering is absent there, nor simply because we long to see loved ones again, but because the Savior who conquered death is there. The One who created us, redeemed us and promised never to leave us is at the center of eternity.
And when that truth moves from theological language into the reality of losing someone we love, the hope of Heaven becomes deeply personal.
What Losing Ron and Jerry Has Reminded Us
Writing about Heaven feels different when you have recently said goodbye to people you love. Ron and Jerry were not theological concepts or illustrations for an article. They were our friends. Their passing hurt, and we cried because they mattered to us. Love makes separation painful, even when faith tells us that death is not the end.
In the midst of that sadness, we have found ourselves thinking again about Steve and Kathy—people we know personally—and about the remarkable story they shared through I’ve Been to Heaven: The True Story of a Husband’s Supernatural Near-Death Experience of the Afterlife, His Wife’s Prayer That Brought Him Back, and God’s Message of Hope for the World (Chosen Books/Baker Publishing Group).
After surviving an extraordinary medical ordeal, Steve returned with a conviction he has expressed in remarkably simple words:
“Heaven is real. Heaven’s more real than this earth.”
We have found comfort in those words, particularly during these recent days of loss. Yet beneath Steve’s testimony is something even more enduring than any individual’s experience: the promises of God’s Word.
We do not have to build our faith upon someone else’s glimpse of eternity. Jesus has already given us something stronger on which to stand. He conquered death through His resurrection, promised eternal life to those who believe in Him, told His followers He was preparing a place for them, and assured them that He would receive them to Himself.
So when we think about Ron and Jerry, our sadness remains real, but so does our hope. We miss our friends, but we are reminded that for those who belong to Christ, death is not the final destination. The story continues beyond what our eyes can presently see.
Perhaps that is one reason Steve and Kathy’s testimony is resonating with so many people. Behind those 2 million views are individual men and women carrying stories of their own—people grieving parents, spouses, children, relatives and friends; people confronting illness or their own mortality; and people quietly asking one of humanity’s oldest and most profound questions:
Is Heaven real?
For Steve Boyls, the answer is deeply personal.
For Christians, our ultimate confidence rests not in Steve’s experience—or anyone else’s—but in Jesus Christ and His promise of eternal life.
And that is where our hope rests too.
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Read the Remarkable Story Behind I’ve Been to Heaven
Steve and Dr. Kathy Boyls’ extraordinary journey is told in I’ve Been to Heaven: The True Story of a Husband’s Supernatural Near-Death Experience of the Afterlife, His Wife’s Prayer That Brought Him Back, and God’s Message of Hope for the World, coauthored with bestselling author and investigative journalist Troy Anderson.
The book became an ECPA bestseller, reached #1 “Hot New Release” in Amazon’s “Near-Death Experiences” category multiple times, and received the AWSA Memoir of the Year Award.
For the full story of how Steve and Kathy’s testimony went from an ICU to an award-winning book—and how Pastor Vlad Savchuk’s interview has now reached more than 2 million viewers:
Read the full feature at Inspire Literary Group →
You can also hear Steve and Kathy tell their remarkable story in their own words in Pastor Vlad Savchuk’s interview:
“He Spent 21 Days in Heaven. What He Saw Will Shock You”
Watch the full interview on YouTube →
Do You Know Jesus?
Ultimately, the greatest question raised by a story about Heaven is not simply, What is Heaven like? It is something far more personal:
Do I know the One who promises eternal life?
The heart of the Christian gospel is that salvation is God’s gift to us through Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that sin separates humanity from God, but that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, opening the way for us to be reconciled to God through faith in Him. Jesus did not merely claim to know the way to eternal life; He declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
For anyone reading this who is uncertain about where you stand with God, you do not need to wait until you have solved every theological question or put your life perfectly in order before turning to Christ. You can come to Him honestly, acknowledge your need for His forgiveness, place your trust in what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection, and ask Him to become Lord of your life.
The same Jesus who spoke to grieving disciples about the place He was preparing for them still offers hope to us today. And that is why, after everything we have considered about Heaven—from Steve’s extraordinary testimony to the promises of Revelation—the most important invitation is not simply to believe that Heaven exists, but to place our faith in Jesus Christ.
A Prayer of Hope, Salvation and Comfort
Heavenly Father,
We come before You grateful for the promise that death does not have the final word. Thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, rose from the grave and opened the way to eternal life.
For every person reading these words who is grieving someone they love, draw especially near today. You know the empty chair, the memories, the tears that come unexpectedly and the longing to hear that person’s voice one more time. When sorrow feels overwhelming, remind us of Your promises and give us the peace that comes from knowing that You are faithful.
We especially thank You for the lives of our dear friends Ron and Jerry. We miss them, and we ask You to comfort their families and everyone who loved them. Help us hold onto the hope of Christ even through our tears and to remember the promise of the day when death, mourning, crying and pain will be no more.
And Lord, for anyone reading this who has never placed their faith in Jesus, may this be the day they turn to You. May they be able to pray from their heart:
Lord Jesus, I need You. I believe You died for my sins and rose again. Please forgive me, make me new, and help me follow You. I place my life and my eternity in Your hands.
Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus until the day when faith becomes sight, and remind us that whatever uncertainties we face in this life, our eternal hope rests securely in Him.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The hope of Heaven is ultimately the hope of Jesus.
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