The motif of Biblical allusion
The family was stunned when the boy reportedly began telling them things about heaven that they could only have suspected through their Christian faith and their knowledge of the Bible. The motif is well established in Colton's experience, no doubt. In his vision, he saw Jesus on a colorful horse and the angels around him singing songs, and Mary was hanging around too.
Many critique this book's overtly religious approach to the events, because a more thorough psychological review might have explained some of these events more technically than just, "He died and went to heaven," but nevertheless, the story has inspired many of its readers.
The motif of ancestry and family
Colton feels connected to his ancestors. He feels he met his own great-grandfather, for instance, and he allegedly knew much of the man's personal history without having been taught it. For a four-year-old to have such a thorough understanding of the life and death cycle is unlikely, except for Colton's own literal near-death or death experience.
So, along with his perceived attachment to the throne of Jesus (he sits in the throne on Jesus's lap as a child), and his encounter with his deceased sister (miscarried before he was born), Colton can be said to have had an encounter with his ancestry—at least the most recent ancestors. Also, interestingly, Jesus is there with his mother, Mary—another intriguing demonstration of the ancestry motif.
The allegory of death
Without doubt or exception, this book can be said to be an allegory about death. Todd and Sonja Burpo literally traveled all over the world sharing this story and their book with churches. They toured churches to tell other Christians that they believe God spoke to them through Colton, and that means they are viewing Colton's death and rebirth as a miracle, as a journey where Colton traveled to his afterlife and came back with blessing for his family. In other words, death is a hero's journey for Colton.
The messianic motif
Another important design feature from literature appears in Colton's reported vision. The family says that Colton's encounter with death was sublime and involved an encounter with true divinity (Jesus and his mother hanging out in eternity together) and his own ancestry. When he came back from literal medical death, a medical miracle, so to speak, he had wisdom to share with his family.
That means that in the context of Heaven is for Real, Colton is being treated as a kind of messiah, because he "came down from heaven," so to speak, and he had opinions that were "not of this world," so to speak. In plain language, the family believes (for better or worse) that Colton is sharing his prophetic knowledge of God with them. It doesn't really get anymore "messiah character" than that.
The imagery of the throne room
This story uses yet another important Biblical motif. This time, it's a motif from Biblical prophecy. When viewed for their literary merit, the Bible shows this motif quite clearly: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul, the minor prophets—they all describe a prophetic encounter with God in his throne room, sitting on the throne, surrounded by singing angels. That image shows up verbatim in this book, and Colton even adds a controversial idea to the mix—he is sitting on Jesus's lap, upon the throne of God.
Although many people have religious relationships to the Bible, the literary allusion is really quite obvious and undeniable from a literary analysis point of view.
