Messiah is an ordinary Hebrew word meaning anointed one, and Christ is simply its Greek counterpart. The argument shows how widely the Old Testament uses it. In Genesis 31:13 God recalls the pillar Jacob anointed at Bethel; in Leviticus 8:10 Moses anoints the tabernacle with the anointing oil; 1 Samuel 2:10 speaks of the horn of God’s anointed king; Ezekiel 28:14 speaks of an anointed guardian cherub.
Isaiah 45:1 goes furthest, for there the LORD calls Cyrus, a pagan king, his anointed. If the word covers a pillar, oil, a cherub and a foreign ruler, the argument says, then being called Messiah does not by itself mark anyone as divine.
I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’”
Genesis 31:13
Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed:
Isaiah 45:1
Source: see Credits and references (no. 27, p. 24).