There was a great earthquake. — The words imply, not that they witnessed the earthquake, but that they inferred it from what they saw. The form of the angel is described in Mark 16:5 as that of a “young man” in white or bright (Luke 24:4) raiment. This was the answer to the question they had been asking as they came, “Who shall roll away the stone for us?” (Mark 16:3). That would have been beyond their strength.
Related Commentaries of Matthew 28:2
Matthew 28:2
2 And, behold, there wasa a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.