Christ asked God to deliver Him from death (Psa. 22:19-21). Hebrews 5:7 says that Christ cried to God for God's deliverance, that is, for God to raise Him up from the dead.
Psalm 22:1 shows that on the cross Christ was forsaken by God (v. 1a; Matt. 27:45-46). The beginning of Psalm 22 speaks of this, but in the sequence of events on the cross, Christ cried out "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" at about the ninth hour, or 3:00 P.M. (Matt. 27:46). This was at the end of His crucifixion. Christ was hanging on the cross for six hours, from the third hour, 9:00 A.M. (Mark 15:25), to the ninth hour, 3:00 P.M. In the first three hours, He was persecuted by men for doing God's will; in the last three hours, He was judged by God to accomplish our redemption. It was during the last three hours that God counted Him as our Substitute who suffered for our sin (Isa. 53:10).
Darkness fell over all the land (Matt. 27:45) because our sin and sins and all negative things were being dealt with on the cross. Isaiah 53:6 says that God laid all of our sins upon Christ. He was forsaken by God for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3), becoming sin on our behalf (2 Cor. 5:21) to be judged by God as our Substitute.
While He was on the earth, God the Father was with Him all the time (John 8:29), but at a certain point in His crucifixion, God left Him. God's leaving Him was economical, not essential. Essentially speaking, God could never leave Christ. But economically speaking, God did leave Him for a while. Thus, He cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
First Peter 3:18 reveals that He was forsaken by God in a vicarious death. This verse says that as the Righteous One, Christ died on behalf of the unrighteous. The modernists say that Christ's death was not for redemption but was merely a martyrdom for the good of the people. This is heresy. John 1:29 says, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." All the sin of the world was laid upon Christ on the cross. He died a vicarious death for us to redeem us from our sins, from God's judgment, and from eternal perdition.