“I have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself. Now like a woman in labor I will groan, I will both gasp and pant”. (Isaiah 42:14)

held my peace . . . kept still and restrained myself. From the beginning of creation God remained silent, until the time was ripe to intervene in human affairs. He has not been indifferent to wickedness in the world, but will send his Servant in “the fullness of time” (John MacArthur)

He had long held his peace, and been still, and refrained himself, while he winked at the times of the ignorance of the Gentile world (Acts 17:30), and suffered all nations to walk in their own ways (Acts 14:16); but now he shall go forth as a mighty man, as a man of war, to attack the devil’s kingdom and give it a fatal blow. (Matthew Henry)