[Seven_0]

"Likewise, the people in Noah's time didn't know the flood was coming. To some, especially the wicked, this day will catch them unaware. They will be "left behind."

This might be my problem. In Matthew 24:39, this is the group that is taken, that means Noah was left behind.

"And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away"

[Teleosis]

Yes, the flood did take (airo) the wicked and wipe them off the face of the earth.

But Christ will put down His sickle and then be joined by the angels putting down theirs as the Harvest is taken over (paralambano) so we receive our inheritance in God's Kingdom because Christ bought us with His own Blood and so redeemed us from slavery to sin in the marketplace of the world. We who have washed our robes clean in the blood of the Lamb will come from every nation, tribe, people, and language and we will stand before the throne and before the Lamb and cry out:

"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."(Rev 7:10)

This same order of gathering before destruction is noted in the parable of the tares in Matthew chapter 13: "At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn." (Mt 13:30) First the weeds are bundled, next the wheat is gathered into the barn, then the weeds are burned. This is supported in the Greek with to be burned in the future tense.

I hope this helps. I think the main point of Matthew verses 24:36-41 though is the unexpectedness of Christ's return for the average person rather than saying exactly how the Harvest is done. I think the change of wording in what we read as the same word "take" is instrumental in showing that the two groups taken do not necessarily have the same end.