The term translated as walk
denotes more than the physical action of moving one leg in front of the other. The term used denotes one’s walk-of-life, one’s conduct. As a person needs the light of the sun to see where he will place his physical foot, so here the nations use the light of God’s glory to decide upon their conduct.
It was God’s will since creation that the creature man should conduct himself in step with God’s glorious identity (Genesis 1:26–27). Over the centuries God gave his law to Israel to function as a light on his people’s path (Psalm 119:105). Nations who have ignored God’s identity and revelation invariably stumble in the dark; they do not know how to conduct themselves (Psalm 82:5). But this New Jerusalem provides such abundant light that nations will know precisely how to live.
24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,