was: or, had been

Geneva Study Bible

And, behold, there was 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.

Scofield Reference Notes

Margin the angel

an angel etc. See Scofield Note: "Heb 1:4".

Matthew 28:2 Parallel Commentaries

September 11. "Lo, I am with You all the Days, Even unto the End of the Age" (Matt. xxviii. 20).
"Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the age" (Matt. xxviii. 20). It is "all the days," not "always." He comes to you each day with a new blessing. Every morning, day by day, He walks with us, with a love that never tires and a blessing that never grows old. And He is with us "all the days"; it is a ceaseless abiding. There is no day so dark, so commonplace, so uninteresting, but you find Him there. Often, no doubt, He is unrecognized, as He was on the way to Emmaus, until you realize …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 9. "All Hail" (Matt. xxviii. 9).
"All hail" (Matt. xxviii. 9). It was a stirring greeting which the Lord of Life spake to His first disciples on the morning of the resurrection. It is a bright and radiant word which in His name we would speak to His beloved children at the commencement of another day. It means a good deal more than appears on the surface. It is really a prayer for our health, but which none but those who believe in the healing of the body can fully understand. A thoughtful friend suggested once that the word "hail" …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Christian Unity.
Trinity Sunday. S. Matt. xxviii. 19. "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." INTRODUCTION.--An ancient writer informs us that when the Egyptians named their Greatest God who was over all, they cried thrice, "Darkness! Darkness! Darkness!" And when we come to speak of the great mystery of the Holy Trinity, the utmost we can do is to repeat their cry, and say, "Darkness! Darkness! Darkness! In the name of the Father--Darkness, and of the Son--Darkness; and of the Holy …
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent

Beginning at Jerusalem
The whole verse runs thus: "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." The words were spoken by Christ, after he rose from the dead, and they are here rehearsed after an historical manner, but do contain in them a formal commission, with a special clause therein. The commission is, as you see, for the preaching of the gospel, and is very distinctly inserted in the holy record by Matthew and Mark. "Go teach all nations," …
John Bunyan—Jerusalem Sinner Saved

Thoughts Upon the Mystery of the Trinity.
THOUGH there be many in the World that seem to be Religious, there are but few that are so: One great Reason whereof is, because there are so many Mistakes about Religion, that it is an hard matter to hit upon the true Notion of it: And therefore desiring nothing in this World, so much as to be an Instrument in God's Hand to direct Men unto true Religion, my great Care must, and, by the Blessing of God, shall be to instil into them right Conceptions of him, that is the only Object of all Religious …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

The Christian Service
Scripture references: Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 10:1-17; Matthew 25:14-30; 23; 13; John 13:4-17; Hebrews 12:1-3; Matthew 5:16; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15; James 2:14-26. THE CALL TO SERVICE All Christian belief must culminate in service or else the belief itself will wither away. Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16); again, in giving His parting instructions to His disciples, …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian

The Earliest Christian Preaching
1. THUS far we have confined ourselves to the words of Jesus. The divine necessity of His death, indicated in the Old Testament and forming the basis of all His teaching regarding it, is the primary truth; the nature of that necessity begins to be revealed as the death is set in relation to the ransoming of many, and to the institution of a new covenant -- that is, a new religion, having as its fundamental blessing the forgiveness of sins. I do not think this view of our Lord's mind as to His own …
James Denney—The Death of Christ

Angels Announce the Resurrection to Certain Women. Peter and John Enter The
Empty Tomb. (Joseph's Garden. Sunday, Very Early.) ^A Matt. XXVIII. 1-8; ^B Mark XVI. 1-8; ^C Luke XXIV. 1-8, 12; ^D John XX. 1-10. ^c 1 But ^a 1 Now late on the sabbath day, ^b 1 And when the sabbath was past, ^c on the first day of the week, { ^a as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,} ^c at early dawn, ^d while it was yet dark, cometh { ^a came} ^d Mary Magdalene early ^a and the other Mary ^b the mother of James, and Salome, ^c unto the tomb, bringing { ^b brought} ^c the spices …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Some of the Guards Report to the Jewish Rulers.
^A Matt. XXVIII. 11-15. ^a 11 Now while they were going [while Joanna and the group of women with her were on their way to tell the apostles that they had seen Jesus], behold, some of the guard [not all] came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass. [Esteeming it folly to guard an empty tomb, the soldiers went to their barracks, while their officers returned to those who had placed them on guard to report what had happened. They rightly judged that the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel