What a difference between the expectations of the apostles (as expressed Acts 1), and the intentions of God!
The kingdom restored to Israel, was their thought.
The King gone on high, and Israel left on earth to fill up the measure of their iniquity, in persecuting a people dear to and connected with their lately-rejected King (a people to be formed by the testimony about the King gone on high, and the Holy Ghost come down-the promise of the Father), such was God's intention.