The Sages describe the time just preceding the arrival of the messiah as a tumultuous period, as the redemption will sprout from the spiritual low point that will characterize that era.

In the times of the approach of the messiah, impudence will increase and the cost of living will increase. The vine will produce its fruit, but wine will be expensive. The monarchy will turn to heresy, and there will be no one worthy of giving reproof. The meeting place of the Sages will become a place of promiscuity, the Galilee shall be destroyed, the Golan will become desolate, and the men of the border will go around from city to city to seek charity but they will find no mercy. The wisdom of scribes will putrefy, people who fear sin will be held in disgust, and the truth will be absent. Youth will shame elders; elders will stand before minors. “The daughter rises against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; the members of his household are a man’s enemies” (Micah 7:6). The face of the generation will be like the face of a dog; a son will not be ashamed before his father. And on what is there for us to rely? On our Father in Heaven.

The messiah son of David will not come until informers proliferate; alternatively, until the students [Torah scholars] decrease; alternatively, until the peruta will cease from the purse; alternatively, until the Jewish people despair of the redemption…as though there were no supporter or helper for the Jewish people….

Rabbi Hama bar Hanina says: The son of David will not come until the arrogant cease from among the Jewish people…. Rabbi Simlai says in the name of Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon: The son of David will not come until all the worthy judges and officers cease from among the Jewish people…. Rabbi Yohanan says: If you see a generation whose troubles inundate it like the flow of a mighty river, await the coming of the messiah…

If you see kingdoms clashing with one another, anticipate the approaching steps of the messiah. (Sota 49b; Sanhedrin 97a; Sanhedrin 98a; Bereshit Rabba 42)