(Mt. 24:31) Is the gathering symbolic (as Preterists claim) or literal (as futurists claim)?

CLAIM: Jesus said, “He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Mt. 24:31). Preterists claim that this isn’t a literal gathering. Instead, it is referring to a symbolic protection of God’s people in the Jewish War of AD 70. Is this the case?

RESPONSE: The gathering in the previous chapter is literal (Mt. 23:37), thus we would assume that this gathering is literal as well.