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The close of Hosea’s prophetic ministry seems to align with the time the unconquered part of the Northern Kingdom was captured and annexed by Assyria; for Hosea had predicted her fall.
God called Israel out of Egypt with a deliverance that showcases God’s love and mercy towards them. But instead of their indebtedness to him, they squandered the mercy and rebelled against God with idolatry.
Now, because they did not repent from their sin and did not truly honor God, they would return to Egypt; symbolizing the coming exile.
Although the Assyrians conquered Israel (the northern kingdom), some of the people of Judah voluntarily fled to Egypt.
Nonetheless, God would not give them up completely. Out of His great love, he would restore them from Egypt and Assyria.
In the second lesson, Jesus discussed abundant fruit-bearing through pruning and cutting off the branches that bore no fruit.
Here, Jesus is the vine and He produces fruits through believers; believers are the branches.
God is the gardener, He cuts off every branch that does not produce fruit and trims every branch that produces fruit to prepare it to deliver even more.
Jesus teaches that if a branch must produce fruit, it must abide in the vine; believers must remain in Christ to be fruitful and by this, the Father is glorified.
If they don’t stay connected to Jesus, they will become dead branches, useful only for fire; "apart from me, you can do nothing."
To remain in Christ or his love is to let his words remain in us and keep his commands.
By this, we will make scripturally informed requests that God will answer, and we will also bear much fruit as the evidence of our discipleship.