The Gemara in Kesubos (קיב ע"ב) discusses the travails of the era preceding the coming of Mashiach. R' Zeira said in the name of R' Yirmiyah bar Abba: The generation in which the son of David [i.e. Mashiach] will come, will experience the denigration of Torah Scholars. When I said this before Shmuel, he said: There will be harsh decrees that will decimate the Jews followed by other decrees that will eliminate even more.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin (צח ע"ב) makes reference to these 'travails of Mashiach', and says as follows. Ulla said, "May the Mashiach come, but may I not see him". And so said Rabbah, "May the Mashiach come, but may I not see him". Although these sages yearned and prayed for the coming of Mashiach, nevertheless, at the same time they preferred not be there to witness the event, so as not to need to endure the suffering that will accompany it.
These travails and miseries will, consequently, cause many of our brethren to forsake their Torah life. In fact, this is precisely what Gog and Magog will have in mind, as David quotes them to say, n'natka es mosroseimo v'nashlichah mimenu avoseimo - Let us unfasten their straps, and cast off from ourselves their cords, which is alluding to the Jewish people who will, as Gog and Magog anticipate, unfasten and cast off the yolk of Torah observance.
In a similar vein, the Gemara in Sanhedrin (קז ע"א) tells us that the travails and miseries of the saga of Avshalom almost brought David to transgress a most serious sin. When Avshalom rebelled, David sought to engage in idolatry... Chushai said to David, "If you commit this act, people will say, 'How can a king as great as you engage in idolatry?' You will thus have also committed a great desecration of Hashem's name". David said to Chushai, "If I do not do this, people will say that it is unjust that a king as pious as I should be killed by his own son! Thus, Hashem's name will be desecrated publicly. It is preferable that a king such as I should engage in idolatry and desecrate the Name of Heaven as an individual, so that the Name of Heaven should not be desecrated publicly". Chushai reassured David and told him as follows: The Torah juxtaposes the Passuk which states, 'If a man will have a wayward and rebellious son...' to the Passuk which permits one to marry a beautiful captive, to teach us that anyone who marries a beautiful captive will have a wayward and rebellious son from her. Accordingly, because Avshalom's mother was a beautiful captive, it is not surprising that he turned out rebellious. Therefore, even if Avshalom succeeds in killing you, people will not question Hashem's justice.
