According to John 11, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days when Jesus arrived at Bethany.
John says that Jesus received news of Lazarus’s illness but remained where he was for two days before going to Judea. By the time Jesus reached Bethany, Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Martha and Mary both meet Jesus, and Martha emphasizes the length of time when she says there will already be an odor.
Jesus then goes to the tomb and calls Lazarus out. John presents this event as the seventh and climactic sign in the Gospel’s commonly recognized sequence, immediately preceding the plot against Jesus described in the following chapter.
The four-day detail is important because it underscores the finality of Lazarus’s death in the narrative. John’s account is distinct from the other Gospels, which do not include this raising of Lazarus.