1The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. 3To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. 4Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

βασιλεία (basileia, 932), -ας, ἡ, (fr. βασιλεύω; to be distinguished fr. βασίλεια a queen; cf. ἱερεία priesthood fr. ἱερεύω, and ἱέρεια a priestess fr. ἱερεῦς), [fr. Hdt. down];

1. royal power, kingship, dominion, rule: Lk. i. 33; xix. 12, 15; xxii. 29; Jn. xviii. 36; Acts i. 6; Heb. i. 8; 1 Co. xv. 24; Rev. xvii. 12; of the royal power of Jesus as the triumphant Messiah, in the phrase ἔρχεσθαι ἐν τῆ βασ. αὐτοῦ, i. e. to come in his kingship, clothed with this power: Mt. xvi. 28; Lk. xxiii. 42 [εἰς τὴν β. L mrg. Tr mrg. WH txt.]; of the royal power and dignity conferred on Christians in the Messiah’s kingdom: Rev. i. 6 (acc. to Tr txt. WH mrg. ἐποίησεν ἡμῖν or L ἡμῶν [yet R G Τ WH txt. Tr mrg. ἡμᾶς] βασιλείαν [Rec. βασιλεῖς]); τοῦ θεοῦ, the royal power and dignity belonging to God, Rev. xii. 10.

2. a kingdom i. e. the territory subject to the rule of a king: Mt. xii. 25 sq.; xxiv. 7; Mk. iii. 24; vi. 23; xiii. 8; Lk. xi. 17; xxi. 10; plur.: Mt. iv. 8; Lk. iy.

βαπτίζω (baptizō 907)

1. baptize

(in form a frequentative or factitive of βάπτω (baptō 911), dip or dye). βαπτίζω (baptizō 907) to make a thing dipped or dyed. To immerse for a religious purpose, may be traced back to the Levitical washings (see Lev 14:8,9).

  6So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;8but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

The Ascension

 9And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.10And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.11They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."

 12Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away 13When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.14These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.15At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said, 16"Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.17"For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry."18(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.19And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

 20"For it is written in the book of Psalms,
         'LET HIS HOMESTEAD BE MADE DESOLATE,
         AND LET NO ONE DWELL IN IT';
         and,
         'LET ANOTHER MAN TAKE HIS OFFICE.'

 21"Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--22beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us--one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection."23So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.24And they prayed and said, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen 25to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." 26And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Since we are studying the book of Acts and not the book of Matthew, we will only make a brief mention concerning Judas hanging himself as noted above in Matthew 27:3-10. No man commits suicide casually. There is a strange consistency in Judas’ final act. Because his root motivation seems to have been selfish ambition that clamored for instant solutions, he would not hesitate to eliminate anyone or anything that jeopardized his happiness.
Was Judas’ final act of self-oblivion the attempt to escape the curse for betraying the innocent for a bribe (Deut. 27:25)? Or did he even think of this? Did he remember Jesus’ fearful prophecy 26:24? Was it not the frenzied desperation of a man so tortured by his own conscience that he would rather become his own executioner than tolerate its accusations? Even so, did he not curse himself by hanging himself (Deut. 21:22f.)? The sad irony is that salvation for Judas was as close as Jesus, had he but believed it-and Him!
Judas, according to Matthew, hanged himself. Luke says, however, “he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out” (Acts 1:18). The alleged contradiction is resolved by noting that, whereas Luke describes the result of Judas’ suicide, our author documents the way he died, i.e. by hanging. Whether Judas’ decaying body remained suspended several days and either the limb or rope would not support his weight, or whether these broke when he fell headlong and his body was grotesquely impaled on a sharp rock from which he could not extricate himself, the conditions are supplied to harmonize both testimonies. Thus, the Acts account incidentally supplements Matthew's account.

21"Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--22beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us--one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.