The prophets establish the foundational signs of redemption as the ingathering of exiles from every corner of the earth and the restoration of Israel to its land: Yeshayahu (11:11-12) foretells that God will stretch His hand a second time to gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth, Yechezkel (36:24-28) promises that God will take Israel from among the nations, bring them back to their own soil, and ultimately place a new spirit within them, and Amos (9:13-15) adds that the land itself will overflow with abundance and the people will never again be uprooted.
The Gemara in Sotah (49b) catalogs the societal signs that will mark the generation immediately preceding the Messiah: wisdom of the sages will become repugnant, those who fear sin will be despised, truth will be absent, the young will shame the old, and the face of the generation will be like the face of a dog — concluding that in such a time Israel has nothing to rely upon except their Father in Heaven.
Sanhedrin (97a) lists additional harbingers: the son of David will not come until informers multiply, disciples diminish, the purse is emptied, and — strikingly — until people despair of redemption entirely, as the verse implies there is no support or helper for Israel; Sanhedrin (97a-98a) further cautions that those who calculate the end are cursed, and Rav holds that all predetermined end-times have already passed and the matter depends solely on repentance and good deeds.
The Maharal in Netzach Yisrael (ch. 1) argues that exile itself is the most compelling proof of inevitable redemption, since anything displaced from its natural place cannot remain so permanently — Israel in exile is like fire forced underground, destined to return — and Netzach Yisrael (ch. 24) reinforces this: Israel's continued subjugation to others is so contrary to the world's proper order that it is simply impossible for it to endure without end.
Rabbeinu Bahya (Shemot 5:22) teaches that just as Moshe was revealed and then hidden before the final redemption from Egypt, so too the future redeemer will be revealed and concealed, and a midrash he cites on the verse "when distress comes like a river" (Yeshayahu 59:19) holds that if you see a generation upon which troubles multiply like a flooding river, await redemption, for immediately adjacent to that verse stands the promise "and a redeemer shall come to Zion."
The Radak (Yeshayahu 59:16) grapples with a persistent question: will the ingathering come through repentance or without it, and he resolves that most of Israel will repent after they witness the initial signs of redemption — meaning the signs come first, and full repentance follows in their wake, while those who remain rebellious will not survive the journey to the Land.
The Rambam (Mishneh Torah, Melachim and Wars 11:1) defines the Messiah as one who will restore the Davidic kingdom to its former sovereignty, rebuild the Temple, and gather the scattered of Israel so that all the laws — including shemittah and yovel — return to their prior operation; Mishneh Torah, Melachim and Wars 12:1-5) adds that the only essential difference between the present age and the messianic era is the emancipation from subjugation to foreign kingdoms, and that before the war of Gog and Magog a prophet will arise to prepare Israel's hearts.
The Kuzari (5:27) teaches that Yerushalayim will be rebuilt precisely when Israel's longing for it reaches the level of cherishing its very stones and dust — redemption is thus conditioned on the depth of the people's yearning — while Kol HaTor (1:1-10) articulates the Vilna Gaon's view that the ingathering of exiles and the footsteps of Mashiach ben Yosef are themselves part of a divinely orchestrated beginning of redemption, whose signs are encoded throughout the Torah.
Megillah (17b-18a) records that wars in the seventh year of the shemittah cycle are themselves the beginning of redemption, and that the blessing for ingathering of exiles was placed after the blessing for the land's produce because the productivity of Eretz Yisrael is the herald of the return — a sequence that connects natural flourishing with national restoration.
מכתב מאליהו, חלק ג surveys the signs transmitted by Chazal — with explicit reference to Sotah 49 — and declares that our own generation bears all the marks of עקבות משיחא: Jews are gathering in Eretz Yisrael, the subjugation of the nations has been lifted there, and the land is giving its fruit, yet alongside this, insolence has increased and those who throw off the yoke of Heaven rule proudly, crediting conquest and settlement to their own strength — and he insists that understanding this paradox, and grasping the obligation it places upon us, is itself the urgent task of the hour.
מכתב מאליהו, חלק ד frames the contemporary wave of heresy and unbelief not as a refutation of redemption but as a clear sign of its approach, urging the faithful to strengthen themselves precisely because such spiritual turbulence is a recognized harbinger; מכתב מאליהו, חלק ה adds that the prophet assures us that even when the entire period of the birth-pangs of the Messiah shows no visible sign of redemption, it is nonetheless preparation for it, and redemption will arrive suddenly, as it is written, "suddenly He will come to His sanctuary."
Ein Aya (Berakhot 1:9) explains that the Shekhinah cannot rest fully until the deficiencies of character and conduct are repaired, since the future redemption must be complete and permanent — requiring genuine inner refinement — and Ein Aya (Berakhot 1:126) describes the war of Gog and Magog as an uprising of many nations against the light of Israel's God-consciousness, an event that will require an open divine hand to resolve, all of which moves toward the universal recognition expressed in the words "I will be magnified and sanctified and known before the eyes of many nations."
Shabbat (118b) transmits in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai that if Israel were to observe even two Shabbatot properly they would be redeemed immediately, grounding the question of timing not in cosmic calculation alone but in the practical observance of the people — a note that runs alongside the Rambam's Iggeret Teiman, which identifies the great persecutions of East and West as the birth-pangs of the Messiah, a category already known to the prophets.