@Davy
(coming from another thread)
The gathering when Jesus comes cannot include the current day Church, that is, IF you believe the exact words of Jesus' prophecy.
Simply stated, Jesus said that when He comes, He will send His angels gather the Chosen. Then, after He sits on His throne, the Nations will be gathered before Him, and He will judge them, separating them left and right, based on their treatment of Jesus' brothers, the Jews.
The church will not fit either group no matter how hard you try without creating conflict with the other group.
There are a few ways people attempt to address this, rather than list them all, what is yours? I'll just answer that one.
Maybe as I have time I can go through the different ways.
Most commonly I see a complete denial of the prophecy, as though it were a parable, or the later judgement at the great white throne.
Now, if you gathered the nations of the earth together, and asked a Jew of Jesus' time to point to the "Chosen", and point to the "Nations", I'm pretty certain that Jew would point to Israel, and say, "Chosen", and point to the rest, and say Goyim.
So going with the "historical grammatical" hermenuetic, that's our understanding. And it sure fits the passage!
And interestingly, the "sheep" are judged according to their works whether they are righteous.
Anyway, that would be my question to you. Do you find the church to be part of the gathered chosen, or the gathered nations?
Much love!